20. Congorock - Babylon
Built around a hypnotic, ear-popping riff straight from the off, rave horns come in around the minute mark before that huge Warp-esque drop ten seconds later which just builds and builds until the pressure drops. That riff has an undeniable groove that marks this above your average noise led banger.
19. Foster The People - Pumped Up Kicks
Sometimes a band appears out of nowhere with a debut single that is just so perfectly formed that you almost urge them to call it a day instantly and leave us with this as their defining legacy. A simple shuffling beat, bouncy Brian Wilson bassline line, chillwave surfy guitars, muffled vocals that sound like they have been recorded through an intercom, whistling. Whistling, like handclaps and cowbells, is always good. It sounds like early MGMT, like Empire Of The Sun, like Peter, Bjorn & John. It could fit amongst the most playful moments of Blur, or Beck. In fact it could fit in with almost every great pop song ever.
18. Katy B ft. Ms Dynamite - Lights On (Skream Remix)
Katy B has probably been the breakthrough artist of the year and the defining voice of 2010. Taking the underground sounds of dubstep and funky and pushing them into the mainstream like never before and it was a toss up between this and the Benga produced 'On A Mission' for her entry into this years top 100. Her sweet vocal juxtaposes perfectly with comeback queen Ms Dynamite's more aggressive take and Skream's production on the remix is as dark and atmospheric as ever, the elastic, bouncing bass line untouchable.
17. The Chemical Brothers - Swoon (Lindstrom & Prins Thomas Remix)
The best song that The Chemical Brothers have released for years, 'Swoon' is a hazy, sun-soaked tale of romantic bliss. In the hands of Lindstrom & Prins Thomas it becomes a nine-minute stretched out disco odyssey that has that amazing power to feel like a three minute pop song. Everything disco needs is present, squelching slap bass, organs, piano and handclaps. It's sensuality is key, you won't need to remember to fall in love with this.
16. Janelle Monae ft. Big Boi - Tightrope
It is no surprise that Monae has such tight links to Outkast, her conceptual, sci-fi obsessed R&B shares so many ideas with the early ideas of the duo and her approach to eschewing the usual record company designed route that all female stars must follow aligns her with another star with close Outkast links, Erykah Badu. 'Tightrope' is about poise and balance, about the self-confidence Monae has to carry off her outlandish vision. She blends the rat-a-tat delivery that her mentor Big Boi has made his trademark with seamless transitions into classic soul-diva wails. The tongue-in-cheek rhymes are delivered with outstanding ease, within seconds she couples 'alligators' with 'rattlesnakers' (I know that shouldn't work, but believe me it does) and 'another flavour' with 'Terminator'. This is the best R&B track since Amerie's '1 Thing'.
15. Professor Green - Monster (T.E.E.D. Remix)
It's those Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs again, this time taking a fairly innocuous hit from Professor Green and turning into a dancefloor smash. Green had made his breakthrough by releasing a string of singles that were heavily reliant on ubiquitous samples (and Lily Allen) and Monster was his attempt to stand on his own two feet. It missed the boat, showing that the Brit-rap thing was all a little turgid and out of ideas (the video basically comes across as a sketch-show parody of an early Enimem hit). To take such a dull track and turn into the absolute behemoth that this is shows just how good TEED are.
14. Doctor P - Sweet Shop
Opening like a old-skool rave track, Doctor P begs us to take it higher before unleashing the mother of all screeching, industrial wobbles. While Katy B and Magnetic Man were disturbing the charts this became the dubstep hit of the summer for all those rudeboys riding around all summer in their hot hatches, looking for the filthiest, dirtiest track they could find to disturb all the pensioners on the sidewalks. It's not clever, but it is BIG.
13. Magnetic Man - I Need Air (Digital Soundboy Remix)
For all the production genius of Magnetic Man it may be a little controversial to think that their best moment of this year was actually a remix of one of their songs. The album is outstanding, the legacy it will have on UK bass culture without doubt but to me this remix by Digital Soundboy just added something extra.
12. Big Boi ft. Cutty - Shutterbug
Much as Janelle Monae's track was the best R&B track for years, in my opinion this was the best hip-hop track for years. It has the invention that the genre has forgotten in its quest for the ultimate unit-shifting ring tone hook. It's an electro bass club anthem, a genre-hopping funk jam. It has Big Boi switching pace and tone effortlessly, the requisite old-school references, honeyed backing vocals and an appearance from Andre 3000. In short it has everything.
11. Rusko ft. Amber Coffman - Hold On (Sub Focus Remix)
Last years don of dubstep, Rusko, released his debut album this to year to huge critical acclaim. The inspired decision to feature Dirty Projector's Amber Coffman on vocals meant this became a genre-transcending classic. Sub Focus' D&B beat cuts between the soaring atmospherics, the breakdown becomes a huge build of old-skool rave and the drop screams with Rusko's trademarks.
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