Joker - Tron
The screeching synth-led melodic interplays, colourful bass and grime signatures made this an instant classic in dubstep circles upon its release in April. It seems to be getting bigger and bigger as the year goes on and ensures that the Bristol scene keeps its hold on the underground of UK bass culture.
Best Coast - Boyfriend
Reverb soaked noise-pop that does what all great indie songs should do, tell a simple tale of (as yet) unrequited love and obsession, of idealistic relationships and simple chords. Bethany's voice is as golden as always and the lo-fi production adds to the whole charm.
Penguin Prison - The Worse It Gets
The past couple of years have been dominated by female synth-pop stars, the likes of La Roux, Little Boots, Ellie Goulding et al leaving the guys trailing in their wake. New Yorker Penguin Prison may be the one to reverse this trend considering he appears to tread a line mostly consisting of prime era Prince on this record. It is the kind of song that sometimes leaves you slightly embarrassed when you find yourself singing along, yet you soon realise just what a ridiculous notion that is. Classic pop cannot, and never should be embarrassing.
Duck Sauce - Barbra Streisand (O-God Edit)
Armand Van Helden & A-Trak's ode to Barbra was the hit if the Winter Music Conference this year, and became the ubiquitous house hit of the summer. Built around a Boney M sample, the legal wrangling of which led to the release being delayed by months. O-God's cheeky bootleg edit was the only version around for a while and I'd played it so much by the time the original turned up in decent studio quality it sounded just too slow. As infectious and silly as a great throwaway summer hit should be this was catchy enough to stay around all year.
Vampire Weekend - Cousins
Whenever I listen to Vampire Weekend I wish they'd leave the intellectual yearnings and Paul Simon obsessions aside a little more and make more spiky records like this. Like'A-Punk' before it, the token urgency shown on this jumped out far more than everything else on the album.
Hot Chip ft. Bonnie Prince Billy - I Feel Bonnie
The best moment from 'One Life Stand', 'I Feel Better' was improved even further with this new version featuring cult American folk artist Bonnie Prince Billy. Warm analogue bass carries the song through its entire seven minutes and the broken tone of the new vocal sits perfectly with the falsettos and distorted backing vocals of the Hot Chip original. The fade out and reprise at around five and a half minutes still gives me goosebumps everytime.
Hyper Crush - AYO
A beast of a track produced by none other than Diplo, this is a booty shaker of the highest regard. Flitting between a squealing motif, militant drums and almost dubstep breaks. An absolute banger for the club, this was one of the best party starters around this year.
Kanye West ft. Pusha T - Runaway
I think Rolling Stone put this best:- "it takes a special kind of twisted, genius to raise the white flag of surrender while raising the middle finger." Whatever you think of Kanye there can be no doubt that the man is a talent like no other. This nine minute epic sees him opening his heart and laying down his insecurities, the ego stripped bare for a while. For an artist as big and self-important as Kanye to release a track like this is an achievement in itself. The twinkling, crying piano and sparse, yet thunderous drums, Kanye's fragile singing voice and Pusha T's rap pulling it all together make for one of the most dramatic moments in music this year.
Robyn - Dancing On My Own
When this was first released I took an instant dislike to it, dismissing it as over-produced. The problem was that I hadn't actually listened to it properly. Filled with heartbreak and emotion, this is a tale of attempting to save face in public even though your insides are being ripped apart. Its a tribute to the achingly sad disco anthems from the likes of Donna Summer & Sylvester and a reminder that there is always room for a little despondency on the dancefloor.
Cee-Lo Green - Fuck You
Probably the one track of this year that you can guarantee to have generation-spanning longevity. The instrumentation is steeped in classic 1960s pop, a throw back to all those great Motown and Stax moments. There are times when the "fuck you" refrain borders on novelty but Cee-Lo's master stroke was to craft a song so effortless, so timeless that the indignation to the girl whom ditched him almost becomes a celebratory moment. We live in such an uncensored society now that the illicit word is used in everyday conversation, its power only holds when it is pushed upon us by songs, or films, or in print. Maybe this is part of the power of this track, that Cee-Lo uses it on our level, he is throwing it away in the same manner each of us do every day. (Incidentally all of this means that the radio edit that replaces the "fuck" with "forget" is one of the most pointless recordings ever made).
No comments:
Post a Comment