#19

Bear Hug

The 2 Bears

 

 

Album: Be Strong

Chart position: Did not chart

 

An absolutely bonkers song, made by one of the members of Hot Chip. It’s a minimalist dance track with spoken lyrics taken from what appears to be the perspective of either a grizzly bear or a nightclub pervert.

 

#18

Civilization

Jutice

 

 

Album: Audio. Video. Disco

Chart position: #53

 

What an apocalyptic video. Anyway, French duo Justice returned with ‘Civilization’. Featuring guest vocals from Ali Love, the song is a departure from their earlier material, with less emphasis on the filtered bass lines.

 

#17

Limit to Your Love

James Blake

 

 

Album: James Blake

Chart position: #39

 

I’ve had a love/WTF relationship with this song all year, but after looking back on it, it is a fantastic song. ‘Limit to Your Love’, a cover of the Feist song, is a minimalistic dub inspired track that showcases Blake’s surprisingly emotional vocals, and his knack for an engaging track that does not feature that much.

 

#16

Lion

Eugene McGuinness

 

 

Album: The Invitation to the Voyage

Chart position: Did not chart

 

This song was released as a free download in preparation for the third album release by Miles Kane’s touring guitarist, Eugene McGuinness. ‘Lion’ has some of the funniest lyrics of the song this year (“I’m sitting on the ventriloquist’s knee, allowing his hand somewhere it shouldn’t be”), and as a great pop aesthetic to it.

 

#24

Bigger than Us

White Lies

 

 

Album: Rituals

Chart position: #42

 

White Lies seem to have disappeared with a whimper in the second part of 2011, which is unfortunate, given that they started the year with the most exciting song of their relatively short career. ‘Bigger than Us’ follows on nicely from their gloomy debut, with a great emphasis on electronics, and a massive, massive chorus to die for. The music video, featuring an oversized chocolate bar receiving CPR, is gloriously bonkers.

 

Brilliant song, up there with "Death", "To Lose My Life" and "E.S.T." as their best for me. They haven't really been as prominent at festivals this year as they were in 2009 but I'm seeing them tomorrow night :D apparently their gig at Wembley Arena on Saturday is the reason the X Factor got moved back a week, so they could inadvertently hand the Christmas #1 to Nirvana or Coldplay!

Brilliant song, up there with "Death", "To Lose My Life" and "E.S.T." as their best for me. They haven't really been as prominent at festivals this year as they were in 2009 but I'm seeing them tomorrow night :D apparently their gig at Wembley Arena on Saturday is the reason the X Factor got moved back a week, so they could inadvertently hand the Christmas #1 to Nirvana or Coldplay!

 

In my opinion, I think that White Lies will struggle to better 'Bigger than Us' (although I loved 'From the Stars' back in 2009). This era doesn't seem to have really gone their way sales wise - I saw the Rituals album reduced to £1.93 in the HMV at Gatwick Airport back in May.

#15

L.I.F.E.G.O.E.S.O.N

Noah & The Whale

 

 

Album: Last Night on Earth

Chart position: #14

 

Noah & the Whale were initially tagged as nu-folk along with Laura Marling, Jay Jay Pistolet (whatever happened to him?) and Mumford and Sons around the time of their first album. Fast forward three years, and the group have decided to embrace storytelling based rock. The Kinks-esque Life Goes On proved to be their 2nd top 40 single, even having the ‘honour’ of being danced to on some frozen water based ‘talent’ show.

 

#14

When Something Dies

Petter Seander

 

 

Album: Til Death Do Us Part

Chart position: Did not chart

 

Referred to as the Swedish Beck by at least one person (if you include myself), Petter (sic) Seander released this track back in October. Despite its seemingly dreary title, ‘When Something Dies’ is an upbeat mid-tempo indie tune with an addictive guitar hook over Petter’s hushed Scandinavian vocals.

 

So far this chart is full of songs that I like but do not love. Oddly my favourite one so far is possibly the Noel Gallagher track and that's certainly not something I was expecting to ever type again. :D

 

 

Edit - actually that's a lie, I absolutely ADORE The Words That Maketh Murder. :wub:

#13

Our Time

Emperor’s Club

 

 

Album: The Castle E.P

Chart position: Did not chart

 

Here is what I had to say about the fantastic ‘Our Time’ on my blog (shameless plug) back in September:

 

Regular visitors to The Metaphorical Boat will be aware that I am awaiting the inevitable mid-to-late 90s music resurgence with open arms. That is the reason why I was excited to hear about Iowa based group Emperors Club, and their fantastic track "Our Time."

 

On the surface, "Our Time" seems to be channelling a more American set of 90s influences, with Stroke 9 being the closest comparison. However, once the strings (or faux-strings, I can't really tell) come in, you realise that this is in fact the gritter, indier twin of McAlmont & Butler's classic "Yes."

 

Plus, it's nice to hear an American band name-dropping the Manic Street Preachers' songs.

 

#12

Perfect Freedom

Shonen Knife

 

 

Album: Free Time

Chart position: Did not chart

 

One of the most enjoyable gigs I saw in Belfast in 2011 was in the Black Box in August, when I saw Japanese all-female pop-punk trio perform live. There was not a single person in the crowd who didn’t have a massive smile on their face by the end of the gig. The energy of the band was incredible, even though the members are all in their 50s.

 

I bought their latest (16th!) album at the end of the gig (incidentally, the band were looking after their own merch stand). Taken from the album is the incredibly perky ‘Perfect Freedom’, which is the perfect mix of fun, silliness, and sweet female punky attitude.

 

#11

Young Lovers Go Pop!

This Many Boyfriends

 

 

Album: N/A

Chart position: Did not chart

 

Fantastic funpop in The Pains of Being… mould from the Leeds band. ‘Young Lovers Go Pop!’ has a chorus to the size of the Channel Tunnel. The band suffered a tragedy in October when their lead guitarist, Peter Sykes, died of a brain haemorrhage, but hopefully the band will be back soon with more quirky songs.

 

So far this chart is full of songs that I like but do not love. Oddly my favourite one so far is possibly the Noel Gallagher track and that's certainly not something I was expecting to ever type again. :D

Edit - actually that's a lie, I absolutely ADORE The Words That Maketh Murder. :wub:

 

My music tastes have gone quite strange this year, given that I'm both listening to a lot more new music for the blog, as well as a lot more major-ish music as a result of being in charge of music at the radio. Hopefully there have been a few loose gems in the countdown that you hadn't encountered before that you come to enjoy.

Here are my comments on a few of the songs so far:

 

Metronomy - The Look

The first time I heard this was seeing them perform it acoustically on BBCs Glasto coverage. It immediately became my favourite song of theirs and still is, brilliant.

 

Snow Patrol - Called Out In The Dark

I was undecided about this for a long time but listened to it for the first time in a while a couple of weeks ago and really enjoyed it for the first time.

 

Coldplay - Paradise

This is great. I watched their X-Factor performance last night and it helped me find a new love for it. It's so good live in a big atmosphere.

 

Joy Formidable - Cradle

A great band, shamefully I never listened to anything by them until about a year ago. This is superb, I think only the full length Whirring betters it.

 

Gil Scott Heron & Jamie xx - I'll Take Care Of You

On a really strong remix album I think this is the one that works the best. Have you heard Drake and Rihanna's attempt? I can't decide whether I like it or hate it as every time I hear it I just come straight back to this. Too recent a song to sample, although unfortunately most people won't have heard it. :(

 

Wild Beasts - Bigger Than Us

A high point on an average album. Very anthemic, one of their best songs.

 

Elbow - Lippy Kids

I love how stripped back this is. My favourite song on Build A Rocket Boys!. The whistling in it is great.

 

Cashier No. 9 - Oh Pity

Although I quite liked the one you sent to UP and Lost At Sea this is the first of theirs I've really liked. It keeps growing too, I've not done my singles list yet but it's a contender for top 50.

 

This Many Boyfriends - Young Lovers Go Pop

Really like this although I've not listened to it for a bit. I downloaded some other material by them but I didn't think much of it was a patch on this.

 

I hope the top 10 is as good!

#12

Perfect Freedom

Shonen Knife

 

Album: Free Time

Chart position: Did not chart

 

One of the most enjoyable gigs I saw in Belfast in 2011 was in the Black Box in August, when I saw Japanese all-female pop-punk trio perform live. There was not a single person in the crowd who didn’t have a massive smile on their face by the end of the gig. The energy of the band was incredible, even though the members are all in their 50s.

 

I bought their latest (16th!) album at the end of the gig (incidentally, the band were looking after their own merch stand). Taken from the album is the incredibly perky ‘Perfect Freedom’, which is the perfect mix of fun, silliness, and sweet female punky attitude.

It's impossible to listen to Shonen Knife without breaking into a broad smile. They are still gloriously silly.

 

They had a wonderfully daft Christmas song out many years ago

 

 

And they've done another one this year :D

 

 

 

#10

Most Days

Mazes

 

 

Album: A Thousand Heys

Chart position: Did not chart

 

And kicking off the top 10 is ‘Most Days’ from Manchester band Mazes. The maxim of Mazes seems to be ‘why spend too much precious time creating post-3 minute songs when you can just as well do it all in under 2? So in 108 seconds, the band fit in two verses, a great guitar riff, before changing the melody for the last 20 seconds, incorporating elements of punk, indie-rock, pop and surf in its short running time.

 

#9

We Were Children

Tribes

 

 

Album: Baby

Chart position: Did not chart

 

When I first heard ‘We Were Children’, my first thought was that it sounds like a Suede or Manics b-side. This is by no means an insult. The track is very much in the Britpop mould. It is my hope that the band goes stratospheric in 2012, although as Viva Brother found out, the world might not be ready for a full blown Britpop revival.

 

#8

Zola

The Wonder Villains

 

 

Album: Zola E.P

Chart position: Did not chart

 

And the spunky Derry quartet make my top 10 for the second year in a row. 2011 has been an eventful year for the group, with them getting signed, writing the theme tune to a BBC TV show, and releasing what is being billed as their first “official” single (but I still remember SpaceJam, dammit)

 

‘Zola’ is another example of their intertextual sugary-pop, with the song being an ode to the former Chelsea forward. Significantly, the song features a prominent guitar line that works in tandem with the synth line. With support from Radio 1 building up, 2012 could finally be the group’s year.

 

#7

Candyfloss

Jonny

 

 

Album: Jonny

Chart position: Did not chart

 

Talk about an indie-kid’s great dream. Jonny is a collaboration between Norman Blake of Teenage Fanclub & Euro Childs of Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci. ‘Candyfloss’, the lead track from the album, is a slice of harmonic indie-pop that shows a sense of fun that seems to have been missing from Teenage Fanclub’s recent material.

 

#6

Pumped Up Kicks

Foster the People

 

 

Album: Torches

Chart position: #18

 

‘Pumped Up Kicks’ has been one of the biggest cross-over hits of the year, and it is easy to see why. An infectious bass line, a chorus that grows on you every time you hear it, and an intense whistling hook. It’s hard to believe that I didn’t give it a single point when it cropped up in Unknown Pleasures early in the year.