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The 20 Best Tracks of 2012 So Far: 15 – 11!

Posted in Best Of, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on July 12, 2012 | 1 Comment »

  

15. Goldfrapp – Melancholy Sky / Yellow Halo

Sure, they’re technically two different songs BUT one was a single without a video, the other has a video without a release, so for the sake of my writing and Spice Girls methodology, 2 become 1.

Realistically, Goldfrapp is probably my favourite artist of all time. Controversial to throw it out there on the table, but she has provided four stunning albums (Felt Mountain, Black Cherry, Supernature and Seventh Tree) that touch on everything from disco to folk and ambient to electronica. Head First was a disappointment of sorts, for while its 80s glam feel was fun, it was camper than Project Runway: The Musical.

Goldfrapp’s next step was to release an incredible Best Of, which showcased (with a few missed exceptions) a solid body of work…but not without two impossibly brilliant singles. Melancholy Sky and Yellow Halo are back-to-basics Goldfrapp. Minimalist, acoustic and gorgeous, it meant that the Best Of has more favourites than my Grindr profile in a Turkish prison.

14. Rudimental – Feel the Love

When a song comes out with more musical genres than I have friends on Facebook, the result should be a hot mess.

Instead, Feel the Love is like rocky road ice-cream or dessert pizza – all your favourite things together to make an ultra-favourite thing. Somehow, the best elements of jazzy horns, soul vocals, drum n bass and (I can’t believe I’m saying this) even dupstep, fuse into one of the most uplifting tracks of the English Summer.

Despite being the antithesis of pop, Feel The Love has peaked at no.1 on the UK Singles Chart and is likely to celebrate similar success in Australia.  If Rudimental can make dubstep sound good, I hope they have nothing to do with Tony Abbot’s political campaign.

13. Major Lazer – Get Free

The thing about parading that I know more about music than ANYONE ELSE IN THE HISTORY OF ANYTHING, is that I hate it when people put me on to something that ends up being my favourite song.

Sometimes pop, sometimes calypso, sometimes electronic but always amazing, Get Free is scarily good. The anti-establishment lyrics make me want to burn down my apartment, change my name to Rain and become one of those freaks that only eat things that die naturally.

Major Lazer may have not released hit after hit, but Get Free proves that Hold the Line wasn’t a fluke.

12. Calvin Harris – Feel So Close

While I loved both, the Kelis duet Bounce and Rihanna’s We Found Love rubbed a lot of Calvinites the wrong way. Personally I love a dance song sung by a diva, but I must admit, this track feels so close to the sound of Calvin.

His almost clumsy vocals fit perfectly with the breezy piano chords but it’s the synthy lyric-less chorus that’s so epic, that if you play this at a party and people aren’t dancing – you need new friends.

A career peak for Calvin.

11. Nicola Roberts – Memory of You

There are four things that I know about Memory of You.

1. It is technically not a new song. Girls Aloud (of which Nicola originates) sang the original four years ago.

2. It technically wasn’t a single, but rather a B-side to the lacklustre Nicola single Yo-Yo.

3. The song is the only one in the Top 20 without a video. It is actually so amazing, that it breaks all the rules. It also only has 6,894 views on YouTube, which means more people have slept with me than watched this video…and neither lasts more than four minutes.

Memory of You is almost the perfect pop song. Synthy, dreamy and with that chorus, Nicola seduces us assuredly. This is a pretty remarkable feat for someone that looks like a Cabbage Patch Doll.

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The 20 Best Tracks of 2012 So Far: 20 – 16!

Posted in Best Of, Random Thoughts, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on July 11, 2012 | 3 Comments »

20. Gossip – Move in the Right Direction

Whether you know it or not, pop producers Xenomania have been responsible for more addictive tracks than Courtney Love’s arm. They have almost single-handedly made sure that Girls Aloud are referenced more for credibility than shagability, giving us iconic single (Biology), after iconic single (Call the Shots.)

Switching effortlessly from gossip rag fodder to indie-rockers The Gossip, Xenomania have enabled Beth Ditto to get her disco on, something which she toyed with on her solo EP. Move in The Right Direction suggests that the right direction is wherever ABBA is playing.

19. M.I.A – Bad Girls

M.I.A has struggled with the balance of being a badass Bollywood bohemian and top-of-the-pops Timbaland tart. Her first album was ground-breaking, yet alienating, while her second proved to be surprise hit, with her Clash-sampling Paper Planes assaulting the US charts.  However her third album, Maya, received tepid reviews and failed to achieve airplay (because well, it was a giant wank.)

With Bad Girls, it appears M.I.A has nailed the happy medium. The Eastern influence is as undeniable in the tune as it is in the video, but the hip-hop percussion is Americanised enough to hear it in retail stores globally.

A welcome return to form.

18. A-Trak, Mark Foster & Kimbra – Warrior

Part of Converse’s consistently amazing Three Artists, One Song campaign, Warrior brings together Mark Foster (Foster The People), A-Trak (Duck Sauce) and Kimbra for an 80s synthed ménage-a-trois. Sounding like some sort of sequel to Mark Ronson’s Bang Bang Bang, Warrior might just be the finest addition to the Converse campaign yet.

Between Kimbra’s sensational debut Vows, her scene stealing spot on Gotye’s Somebody That I Used To Know and her career peak of Miami Horror’s I Look To You, she can barely put a foot wrong. Ditto Mark Foster, for while this pushes the envelope on Foster the People’s sound, still has his fingerprints all over it.

Belligerently appealing, the track has that kind of indie-electro feel that is heroin to hipsters.

17. Ellie Goulding – Lights

Ellie Goulding had already ridden a giant wave of success in the UK, but there was something missing from the formula to keep her from world success.  Though likeable, Ellie’s reputation as being about as boring as Amish pornography meant being confined to success only in her homeland.

In saying that, her remake of Your Song was so amazing that the royal couple asked her to perform it at the wedding, when they could have easily asked the queen (by that I mean original artist Elton John.)

However it was Lights, a scorching hot synth-popera with a dark twist that led Goulding to take over the US Charts, where her song has now gone double platinum for sales of two million copies.

Ellie’s real achievement though is managing to justify dating a man with zero talent – Skrillex.

16. Ed Sheeran – Small Bump

Fifteen years ago, a video clip emerged of a foetus singing the lyrics to an accompanying song. That song, Teardrop by Massive Attack, went on to become my favourite song of all time.

When dealing with a topic as sensitive as a miscarriage, there are only two possible outcomes: contrived soppy shit or epic ballad that draws on raw emotion. The success of Small Bump stems from Ed Sheeran’s genuine lyrics that reflect on a close friend’s miscarriage, “You were just a small bump unborn for four months then torn from life. Maybe you were needed up there but we’re still unaware as why.”

After all, there’s only one thing sadder than a miscarriage and that’s a ginger pop star.

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Singles: Cheryl Cole’s “Call My Name”, Dia Frampton’s “Don’t Kick the Chair”, Mark Foster & Kimbra & A-trak’s “Warrior”

Posted in Singles, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on May 10, 2012 | 2 Comments »

Cheryl Cole – Hear My Name

Any way you look at it, Cheryl Cole’s last album was a disaster. In fact, it should have been called Hot Messy Little Raindrops.

While debut album 3 Words triumphed with current dance/pop anthems not too far removed from her Girls Aloud origins, Messy Little Raindrops was rushed, awkward and desperate.

For Cheryl’s third album in only as many years, A Million Lights, she’s come full circle and with the help of pop juggernaut Calvin Harris, has produced her catchiest track since Stand Up was never released.

While essentially a remodelling of Harris’ previous global pandemic We Found Love (Tulisa should also be named and shamed for doing the same),  Call My Name succeeds in Cheryl finally trying to sound MORE like Girls Aloud, rather than denying her roots. She’s also not trying to be Cheryl And The Machine, this is just unashamed and frivolous pop.

Call My Name isn’t immediate. You don’t realise its pop greatness the first, second, even third listen, but when it does it smashes you. Throw in a scorching hot video clip and you have the poppy club anthem of the British summer. A serious return to form. 3.5 stars.

Dia Frampton – Don’t Kick The Chair (feat. Kid Cudi)

Javier Colon may have had “The Voice” but Dia Frampton’s slightly off-centre, Feist-esque pop feel made the first season of The Voice US incredibly watchable. Renditions of Kanye West’s Heartless and R.E.M’s Losing My Religion showed potential for an artist, not just a performer.

Don’t Kick The Chair is light, breezy and full of chimey goodness – exactly what you’d want in an anti-suicide anthem! It’s also precisely what you’d expect from Frampton, being an easy transgression from the artiste she was on the show to the one she wants to become. Kid Cudi’s presence is as welcome as it is curious, with his genre-crossing talent being the highlight of the song.

While the chorus is catchy, the repetition means the life cycle on an ipod is a few weeks – tops. Nevertheless, it’s a worthy introduction to post-Voice Dia. 3 stars.

Mark Foster, A-Trak and Kimbra – Warrior

Part of Converse’s consistently amazing Three Artists, One Song campaign, Warrior brings together Mark Foster (Foster The People), A-Trak (Duck Sauce) and Kimbra for an 80s synthed ménage-a-trois. Sounding like some sort of sequel to Mark Ronson’s Bang Bang Bang, Warrior might just be the finest addition to the Converse campaign yet.

Between Kimbra’s sensational debut Vows, her scene stealing spot on Gotye’s Somebody That I Used To Know and her career peak of Miami Horror’s I Look To You, she can barely put a foot wrong. Ditto Mark Foster, for while this pushes the envelope on Foster The People’s sound, still h as his fingerprints all over it.

Belligerently appealing, the track has that kind of indie-electro feel that is heroin to hipsters. 4 stars.

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