Howdy.

 

I'm going to actually give this a proper go this year, I'm not promising that I won't get bored and just post a list at some point as usual but this will be the thread that recaps the tracks and albums that I've been listening to and loving during 2010.

 

I'm beginning with 200 songs in a rough order of preference and am not limiting myself to singles this year as there have been a few album tracks that I've adored and really want to include.

 

Anyways, here goes...

Not limiting yourself to singles? :o Nine Robyn songs in the top ten!?!

Oh goody :cheer:

 

Any Betty Boo?

Not limiting yourself to singles? :o Nine Robyn songs in the top ten!?!

I've tried to ensure this hasn't happened by limiting it to no more than 30 per artist. :D

 

Oh goody :cheer:

 

Any Betty Boo?

Alas she didn't release anything in 2010, it's time for someone else to take the #1 for once. :D

I've tried to ensure this hasn't happened by limiting it to no more than 30 per artist. :D

 

Good idea, wouldn't want Glee cast dominating a quarter of the chart!

Oh excellent Mr Dandy sir. :D I shall keep popping in here and checking out your Chart of 2010 as it progresses. Be sure to check out mine. ;) :P

 

Robyn for #40 :cheer:

Right we'll start with this little lot then, I'll try to include youtube links and chart runs where possible to keep the whole thing as geeky as possible.

 

 

200|Clare Maguire 'Ain't Nobody'

Chart run: 22-13-12-16-17-33-46

 

199|Cut Copy 'Take Me Over'

Chart run: 36-31-27-21-20

 

198|Danger '4h30'

Chart run: 14-09-14-18-27-31-43

 

197|Eric Lau feat Muhsinah & Kaidi Tatham 'Always Will'

Chart run: 40-35-34-38-50

 

DNC

 

Chart run: 28-16-15-22-34-47

 

Chart run: 35-25-13-07-11-19-27-40

 

Chart run: 03-03-06-07-07-08-15-20-28-35-41

 

192|Sufjan Stevens 'All Delighted People'

DNC

 

Chart run: 21-10-07-10-15-21

 

 

So opening the countdown is Clare Maguire, a song that I find promises slightly more than it manages to deliver but deserves a place for the strength of the vox. Cut Copy's newie is up next and it's position reflects my continued disappointment with, it's good by a lot of people's standards but just an average song for them. Danger scrape in with another decent slice of French electro while Eric Lau and Four Tet provide some of the year's more beautiful moments. Shine 2009 and The New Division both make it with the first efforts of theirs that I've heard, both quite dreamy. M.I.A. and Stars finish disappointingly low after former glories and it's the only entry from each. Sufjan's first entry in the chart is the title track from his EP, about 11 minutes long but worth every second.

 

 

Ooh, a top 200 :D If I posted my top 200 of 2010, I think I'd announce the #1 in April 2011. :D It's taken me an hour just to countdown 40-31 :drama:

190|Tinashé 'Zambezi'

Chart run: 33-22-13-10-13-18-29-42

 

Chart run: 37-32-50

 

Chart run: 31-16-10-12-20-29-37-50

 

187|LCD Soundsystem 'You Wanted A Hit'

DNC

 

Chart run: 36-15-06-06-13-25-41

 

DNC

 

184|Hurts 'Silver Lining'

DNC

 

Chart run: 22-12-12-08-12

 

Chart run: 27-11-09-13-20-32-46

 

181|Duck Sauce 'Barbra Streisand'

Chart run: 48-10-05-08-20-21-30-44

 

 

Tinashé kicks off this section with the (for me) unusually upbeat Zambezi, it's almost vibrant in it's raping of Paul Simon. Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs and Is Tropical provide a bit of low tempo dance pop that seems to be getting more and more prominent at the moment. Out and out pop comes in the form of Duck Sauce (guilty pleasure of the year!), Marina with one of the finer offerings on her lovely album and Hurts with the opening track from their synthtastic album. First showing from LCD Soundsystem this year, the album didn't grab me on the whole but there are still a couple of standouts. Also the first showing from Kid Cudi who is becoming a favourite of mine despite his rather passionless style of delivery.

 

DNC

I first discovered this in the UP contest here on BJ and thought it was okay but not that special. I've since been listening to it quite a lot and ended up downloading the album which is surprisingly good and consistent. So, thanks to Doctor Blind then.

 

179|Kathryn Williams '50 White Lines'

Chart run: 48-48-48

Kathryn's music feels like an old friend, she's been almost secretively releasing music for an age now and never received the recognition she deserves - despite a Mercury nomination along the way. This was the lead single from her The Quickening album which was another slice of blissful and quiet listening.

 

Chart run: 43-26-16-10-08-03-03-02-05-11-15-27-38-50

I loved this back in March and it's still a great song, I think I was put off her in general this year because I was expecting slightly more from her after the promise shown in her debut album. Still, this was a great and authentic sounding lead single.

 

Chart run: 22-09-06-07-05-08-15-26-32

Next up is the return of Lykke Li, love the rhythm on this one. Most of the hits from the end of the year have been slightly undervalued here due to the potential of me getting bored of them soonish (and I use the term 'hits' very loosely).

 

Chart run: 40-32-24-26-29-39-43

A third girl with guitar in a row, this time it's the turn of Ólöf Arnalds who was not someone I knew of before this year. I found this track by accident but was seduced by the vocal and simple arrangement, I've still never bothered with the album but I can't help but feel that it could be something very special indeed.

 

DNC

This was a track from early this year that I ignored at first but put on my ipod anyway. For months it appeared on random while wandering around and I had no idea what it was but it just seemed to suit wandering among the hustle and bustle. I eventually went through the playlist until I realised what it was, it sits very nicely among the James Blake and Jamie Woons of this world.

 

Chart run: 40-33-29-35-46

Fantasies was an album that never totally clicked for me, it had it's moments but I discarded it after a few plays last year. This year it took this fine track to remind me of why I should have persisted with it, I love this far more than it's #29 peak suggests and it now ranks high among my all time Emily faves.

 

Chart run: 44-34-33-29-22-20-23-18-20-29-41

This is one of those female fronted electropop things that I often end up falling for, this time it's like Sophie Ellis Bextor warbling over a classic Pet Shop Boys track. That's me sold then.

 

172|Robyn 'In My Eyes'

DNC

So here's the first time we see the goddess that is Robyn. This was the opening track on the second installment of the Body Talk series and should possibly have been the single from it also, another great little pop track to add to her already sizable collection. Most of the youtube clips wouldn't work for me so have some family clips from someone with fine taste in pop music.

 

171|Sub Focus feat Coco 'Splash'

Chart run: 27-22-13-11-09-12-20-32-39-47

Here's the first appearance for I Blame Coco then, a woman who I've loved quite a lot during 2010 despite her being the spawn of Sting. This is the lowest of the singles she's appeared on but is still a remarkable achievement considering how much I usually hate drum and bass music. So well done you Ms Coco.

 

Good idea, wouldn't want Glee cast dominating a quarter of the chart!

Am I that obvious! :D

 

Ooh, a top 200 :D If I posted my top 200 of 2010, I think I'd announce the #1 in April 2011. :D It's taken me an hour just to countdown 40-31 :drama:

I'm not sure it's such a great idea myself now, I would have found it almost impossible to choose just 40 songs though. While 200 does seem a lot, I do love them all and they've accompanied me through 2010. We'll see how far I get with it...

 

In My Eyes so low? It's probably my favourite song on 'Body Talk'! :o

In My Eyes so low? It's probably my favourite song on 'Body Talk'! :o

It's not so low though... any album tracks that make must be pretty special as I've still based the countdown primarily around my chart. It's definitely one of my favourites too, in the top 10 at least (so as not to give away how many are still to come! :D )

Am I that obvious! :D

 

I'm afraid so :(

 

Nice to see In My Eyes appear, really stunning song. It's time like this when I wish each installment of Body Talk had had two official singles. Fembot/Dancing On My Own, In My Eyes/Hang With Me and Indestructible and either Time Machine or Call Your Girlfriend would have been incredible! This era has been amazing quality wise for Robyn.

Chart run: 27-25-31-45

More melodic indie to kick off this section, yet another act I've been intending to get the album by but haven't managed to get around to. Like this single though, the psychedelia coming through managed to sound a little bit different in 2010.

 

DNC

Lovely retro inspired harmonies back a simple production and lovely vocal here. Another track that I grew to love among the city streets in my own little ipod world.

 

168|Husky Rescue 'We Shall Burn Bright'

Chart run: 12-09-06-12-21-36-40-43-45

Lead single from the Ship Of Light album and it turned out to be yet another grower from them, one of the most consistent bands of the past few years who somehow never manage to make any impression at all.

 

Chart run: 28-20-15-15-19-26-45

This could so easily have been Acapella or Home but in the end it was 4th Of July that won through. Kelis really had a great year for me, her album is easily her best to date and the new direction just really suits her. The album was so commercial too so I have literally no idea why it flopped so hard. :(

 

Chart run: 29-20-09-06-03-03-06-16-28-39-50

I don't know much about these guys but they make nice retro indiepop and that's enough for me. This was the first single to be lifted from the album and remains my favourite of theirs to date.

 

165|Baths '♥'

DNC

One of the highlights of the Cerulean album for me, it's as beautiful as anything I've heard this year. Baths really are an act to watch as he just strikes such an emotional chord with his music, at times it's so beautiful that it hurts.

 

164|Best Coast 'Crazy For You'

DNC

This album was such a joy in the Summer, the indie version of the Pipettes for me. It's full of singalong hooks and sun kissed bliss, rather like this single in fact.

 

Chart run: 25-11-09-07-09-19-27-36

This is a track I've only discovered in the past two months but really wish I'd known about earlier, this too must have sounded great being blasted out of the car stereo in the height of Summer. If you liked the Delorean album then you should take a listen to this...

 

Chart run: 23-15-13-08-14-22-37-50

So Kylie returned this year with a great comeback single in the form of this. It raised expectations for her album so I was very disappointed to find that this was by far my favourite thing on it, it really does descend into tacky filler all too often. Still, forget that, let's just pretend it was a fabulous one off single.

 

161|Future Islands 'Swept Inside'

DNC

Future Islands had one of the albums of the year, even without the mighty In The Fall appearing on it. This is one of the album's highlights for me as it gradually builds and builds around the excellent lyrics. There really isn't a duff track on the album either so expect to see it later when I do the albums of 2010.

 

naked and famous - young blood, far too low.

Young Blood far too low, and so is Fixed by Stars, mind you it did help me out of a situation in UP :D thanks for that. PHEW!!!

DNC

The opening track from her album and I believe it was also released as a single at some point too. I love the percussion on this track, the vocals are probably a bit love/hate but as a fully fledged banshee lover I'm quite the fan.

 

Chart run: 18-11-06-04-03-04-07-15-25-34-40-42-46-46-47-47

The third single from the Plastic Beach album and it was an instant highlight for me, this is probably Gorillaz at their most Bluresque (yes, Christina fans, that was BLUResque so get those stripping monkey ideas out of your head) and so was always likely to hit a chord with me. I'm not quite sure what went wrong for Gorillaz in 2010, Stylo was a perfectly reasonable lead single and usually something like Superfast Jellyfish would have done well also. Ah well.

 

DNC

Like many others I found myself hooked by the viral clips being leaked at the beginning of the year. When it turned out to be Jonna Lee I like many others found myself losing interest rather quickly. Who would have though she could transform the rubbish pop of her previous project into something as magical as this then, Y in particular stands out for me as being something that I would love to have heard from Kate Bush on her last album.

 

DNC

How do you top an album like Ys? Well, you make it a triple and cram it full of beautiful and inventive music. In truth there was almost too much on offer to truly take in but this was definitely one of the highlights, when the harp comes in at 2.38 it's truly beautiful. Joanna Newsom just makes music unlike any other act right now and it's breathtaking.

 

DNC

Another beautiful track, this time it's one I picked up from Pitchfork during the year and have found myself listening to rather a lot of late. It's a cover of the Big Star track and the way it builds actually improves upon the original for me.

 

155|Maximum Balloon 'Communion'

DNC

Maximum Balloon are a side project from TV On The Radio and this is the highlight of their surprisingly okay album, featuring Karen O of Yeah Yeah Yeahs to good effect on this slow burner and album centerpiece.

 

Chart run: 28-18-14-13-16-22-25-34-42

I've only just realised thanks to youtube that this band used to be Pivot, not that they were any more famous then but it does explain why I've always thought the voice was familiar. This is quite a distinctive little track that I've almost submitted to Unknown Pleasures on a few occasions now. The build of vocal samples and drum samples is quite impressive, will be checking out their album at some point soon...

 

Chart run: 49-31-24-16-08-18-26-41

I was really looking forward to Ellie's album after loving Under The Sheets and thinking Starry Eyed was okay. This however proved to be one of the only tracks I cared for amongst the complete and utter borefest of an album. Somehow a John Lewis commercial has completely revived her fortunes this year as she really deserved to flop on the strength (or weakness) of the earlier material.

 

Chart run: 35-31-20-15-12-16-21-32-43

This is the first of four 2010 #1 singles that have made my year end countdown, I can't actually remember the last time that happened. It's been a great year for Rihanna (not that you need me to tell you that) and this was a deserved return to #1 for her, it's a song that seems tailor made for the UK market combining a strong pop hook with trance(ish) strings in the chorus.

 

DNC

This is my favourite song on his All Delighted People EP. It doesn't really offer anything new to the Sufjan mix but the choir adds something lovely while the twinkly sfx lift the track into magical territory at times. It's a shame that this EP will end up forgotten in comparison to his major release of the year as it's well worth a listen.