Why is Birthday Cake a 00/10?! It's amazing!

 

DIE.

 

It is literally the WORST thing Rihanna has ever recorded. This is BEFORE you factor in her former abuser featuring on it. So repetitive and awful.

It is literally the WORST thing Rihanna has ever recorded. This is BEFORE you factor in her former abuser featuring on it. So repetitive and awful.

 

It's incredible - it's like the darker follow-up to Nicki Minaj's Did It On Em, which is an incredible party record. It's good to dance to as well. :kink:

it's like the darker follow-up to Nicki Minaj's Did It On Em

 

Makes sense - my least favourite song out of Nicki's albums, and I agree with Iz regarding "Birthday Cake".

 

And I'm so glad that "Water To Ice" was the 11/10, probably my 3rd favourite discovery from BJSC this year! As for "Porcupine" winning the rejects - nuh huh. "Greenwashing" should have that wrapped up.

Lana :wub: Although "Without You" should be a solid 10/10!

ALBUM #2

 

MARINA AND THE DIAMONDS - ELECTRA HEART

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/0/0e/Electraheart.jpg/220px-Electraheart.jpg

 

Bubblegum Bitch: 10/10

Primadonna: 10/10

Lies: 9/10

Homewrecker: 9/10

Starring Role: 9/10

The State Of Dreaming: 9/10

Power & Control: 9/10

Living Dead: 9/10

Teen Idle: 10/10

Valley Of The Dolls: 8/10

Hypocrates: 9/10

Fear And Loathing: 9/10

Radioactive: 9/10

Sex Yeah: 9/10

Lonely Hearts Club: 8/10

Buy The Stars: 10/10

 

Yeah, that's correct. While scoring these, I only found TWO tracks underneath 9/10. Electra Heart is almost almost perfect. It doesn't have a HUGE HUGE standout (although I suppose the best is Primadonna) so I haven't given a 11/10. The whole album is so internally consistent - not one bad track at all - very unusual even for albums in this top 10, that it's hard for me to imagine it as anything less than a perfect album - and it came very close to my #1. This year I really got into Marina proper - I bought The Family Jewels as well and I almost played it more than this - can't remember which is more played right now, will check last.fm later.

 

I love Marina. There's a distinctiveness to her voice that certainly elevates her tracks above the majority of what's out there. Earned.

It gets better with Marina! :wub: Although again LIES is definitely the standout track. I swear i'm the biggest global LOON for that song. It's amazing :cry:

ALBUM #1

 

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/1/18/Nightwish_imaginaerum_cover.jpg/220px-Nightwish_imaginaerum_cover.jpg

 

Taikatalvi: 9/10

Storytime: 10/10

Ghost River: 10/10

Slow, Love, Slow: 9/10

I Want My Tears Back: 9/10

Scaretale: 7/10

Arabesque: 8/10

Turn Loose The Mermaids: 11/10

Rest Calm: 10/10

The Crow, The Owl, And The Dove: 10/10

Last Ride Of The Day: 9/10

Song Of Myself: 9/10

Imaginaerum: 9/10

 

And here is where my looning (but as if stanning a metal band is anywhere near what most of this forum does with girlbands) goes into overdrive. While Imaginaerum is TECHNICALLY a 2011 album and was on my EOY list last year, this is the year where it has truly come into its own. I have listened to this album three times as much as any other album on this list over the last year - so it's kinda justified and there was never going to be ANYTHING else. Taikatalvi is a rare Finnish track that leads perfectly into lead single Storytime - itself giving a fairly good lead in to the batshit crazy Ghost River (the closest the album ever gets to metal) and from there it's a smorgasbord of genre diversity. Slow, Love, Slow is a jazzy lounge midtempo, Arabesque an interesting atmospheric instrumental, Turn Loose The Mermaids a haunting Celtic ballad, The Crow, The Owl And The Dove an almost all-out pop song and Last Ride Of The Day, by the band's own admission, meant to capture the feelings of being on a rollercoaster. And just when that's not enough, the album closer is an instrumental that is a smooth medley of most of the instrumentals on the album. I may be overhyping these but they are all really lovely songs and I've been looning for them all most of the year. Done for a film released only a couple of months ago, it really is the best album I've been enjoying all of this year. Symphonic Metal UP and we thank you for reading along.

 

Singles to start tomorrow, maybe.

Makes sense - my least favourite song out of Nicki's albums, and I agree with Iz regarding "Birthday Cake".

 

And I'm so glad that "Water To Ice" was the 11/10, probably my 3rd favourite discovery from BJSC this year! As for "Porcupine" winning the rejects - nuh huh. "Greenwashing" should have that wrapped up.

 

Greenwashing may live. I'm pinning more hopes on Saint Saviour really but Porcupine better do well. Water To Ice is easily the superior song though - so I agree with the majority of this post.

 

It gets better with Marina! :wub: Although again LIES is definitely the standout track. I swear i'm the biggest global LOON for that song. It's amazing :cry:

 

It is, best 9/10 on Electra - I nearly put it up to a 10 but decided against.

What a brilliant number one album! It's a shame Anette's decided to quit the band though :(

 

I also very much approve of appearances from iamamiwhoami and Loreen here! :D

Ooft! Marina's album rate *.*

 

Disappointed 'Lonely Hearts Club' is one of the two though! I find it so charming and I wish it was used as our entry into Eurovision next year! :drama:

HOLD UP, HOLD UP!

 

Amazing chart etc, BUT DID GRIFF just tell someone to die!

 

I CANT EVEN!

Makes sense - my least favourite song out of Nicki's albums, and I agree with Iz regarding "Birthday Cake".

 

wut wut wut WUT

 

Did It On Em is genuinely one of my favourite songs of all time.

 

NO BABY NO

 

-x-

 

And Lee, I got my posters mixed up. I was going to tell YOU to die instead. :o

What a brilliant number one album! It's a shame Anette's decided to quit the band though :(

 

I also very much approve of appearances from iamamiwhoami and Loreen here! :D

 

Oh yeah I forgot about that in my commentary. :( She was really good for the band and I'll miss her - this'll probably mean yet another different sound for Nightwish 3.0, anything more and we can start comparing it to the Sugababes. :lol:

 

Ooft! Marina's album rate *.*

 

Disappointed 'Lonely Hearts Club' is one of the two though! I find it so charming and I wish it was used as our entry into Eurovision next year! :drama:

 

It's probably the weakest there for me. :( Not as strong a hook as nearly everything else on the album - but it's Marina so I still like it.

SINGLES: 212-201

 

http://thelavalizard.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/aubrey-oday-wrecking-ball_thelavalizard.jpg

 

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

 

I only do this many because I love them. An adage for this chart.

 

Chart Peak: #49

'I will love you till the end of time'

 

Starting us off, one of those many great songs that are on Born To Die - don't worry, not all of them will make an appearance on this side of things. Some will, though. Blue Jeans was a single I never REALLY took to fully from Lana, hence the low chart peak, however its use on an episode of Misfits (this helps at least two other songs further up too) enabled it to sneak in to the bottom of my EOY chart. You kept out Masterpiece, G# and Outta My Head Lana, hope you are proud of yourself.

 

Chart Peak: #28

'but this is not another love song'

 

I first came across this song, like happens so often around here, with it being PMed to me as a BJSC potential (by Oricon). I replied with saying 'this is exactly the sort of thing I would enter'. Then it got entered by Umi and we know what happens from there. It's a lovely Disney-(esque?)-pop-rock song with a nice hook - and is the first of probably many examples of more... dodgy taste coming up. However I really did love it at the time and it's more interesting than a lot of songs using the name 'pop' this year.

 

Chart Peak: #26

'day by day soon the change will come'

 

A worthy follow up to Levels, Avicii continues to hang around my love bubble - never quite in there but doing a good job of making stuff I will happily listen to. This, featuring the vocals of one Salem Al Fakir, something always rather welcome, has been a good staple of parties over the year for me and while it's not quite as strong as what either artist has done before, I'll take it.

 

Chart Peak: #8

'I know when the battle's lost'

 

The first song on this list to be a top 10 hit for me, we have Loreen's first song to premier after her victory at Eurovision. It was a bit of a hyped top 10, it didn't really stand up to scrutiny unlike her other songs, yet it did well enough to get in here. I do think when I hear this - 'who the hell would hurt her like that?'. Then I remember I think the same thing about 90% of Taylor Swift's songs.

 

208. Gorillaz feat. Andre 3000 & James Murphy - DoYaThing

Chart Peak: #2

'I'm a pale imitator of a boy in the sky

With a cap in his head and a knot in his tie'

 

So yeah, the peaks keep on going up and up, and this is the first of my #2s to fall. Originally really only getting that high because it was a new track from Gorillaz', albeit only one to support their new Converse range. The video was a nice shout out to the history of the band but the song got a little boring after repeat listens.The first two verses are brilliant, but the features do let this down a little and it quickly plummeted out of my affections.

 

Chart Peak: #24

'I close my eyes then maybe the wounds will heal'

 

So Vanbot got extremely high for me last year with Make Me Break Me, but Lost Without You isn't quite up to that. It's a bit too much of a Robyn pastiche, that said, it is still brilliant and I have good memories of listening to this while in Tenerife (as with a lot of songs I first heard around late March/April this year)

 

Chart Peak: #52

'light the fire in me'

 

I don't know anything about VNV Nation besides this track but it is rather lovely. I kept wanting to eliminate it because of the low chart peak but hearing that chorus makes it all worth it. Notably the only Unknown Pleasures winner to make it in here, but there are a few more tracks that I've discovered from that competition still to come.

 

Chart Peak: #28

'the night sky is changing overhead'

 

I just CANNOT resist that chorus lead-in. One of the best I've heard this year. The rest is a fine pop song but nothing really excites me beyond the bridge and its progression. I have a lot of goodwill towards T&S so I'm happy for them to produce a song I like. It's also grown on me since its use in BJSC so I'd probably give it a longer chart run now - this is why I do this thing on opinion rather than points.

 

204. Lucie Silvas - Reset

Chart Peak: #42

'the wind's gonna start blowing'

 

Joseph WHERE ARE YOU? One of those massive flops you so love. Best Lucie Silvas song I've heard, although it did take its time to grow on me, the chorus is very well-sung and it's one of a dying breed of piano ballads in here, as much as I do like a good piano ballad sometimes, there seemed to be less around this year compared to the heights of late 2011.

 

Chart Peak: #9

'and you were there at the time, waiting to let me know'

 

Absolutely nothing on past glories like In The End, Numb or What I've Done, yet it was as decent a comeback single as I expected given how long they've been in the business. While it has a wonderful backing riff, and I love the rap towards the end, the rest is a little dragging - like I said on Living Things, not a whole lot of replay value.

 

Chart Peak: #7

'now get up, get up, get up'

 

The highest peaking Kyla song on my chart this year, it hasn't aged that well at all compared to the rest of her tracks - so I call it a bit of a disappointing choice of single. It's still supa amazing but Vampire Smile and Woke Up Dead and multiple other songs off Ashes should have got more attention. Nothing she does is launching her into the mainstream though. :( Heavy Stone was last year so she has one more track to come.

 

Chart Peak: #33

'Broken dreams and silent screams, empty churches with soulless curses'

 

One of the more interesting groups I've discovered this year, MS MR give a haunting performance on Bones and while it's not quite their best song, it is nearing their best. The chorus keeps on giving and giving and eventually an undercurrent of sound explodes into something really quite wonderful. I wonder just whose bones they wish to dig up.

 

 

http://beatcrave.frsucrave.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/gorillaz-la-2-29-12.jpg

204. Lucie Silvas - Reset

Chart Peak: #42

'the wind's gonna start blowing'

 

Joseph WHERE ARE YOU? One of those massive flops you so love. Best Lucie Silvas song I've heard, although it did take its time to grow on me, the chorus is very well-sung and it's one of a dying breed of piano ballads in here, as much as I do like a good piano ballad sometimes, there seemed to be less around this year compared to the heights of late 2011.

 

YES IZ! Among Lucie's best, easily. So excited for her new album. :wub:

Ooft! Marina's album rate *.*

 

Disappointed 'Lonely Hearts Club' is one of the two though! I find it so charming and I wish it was used as our entry into Eurovision next year! :drama:

I didn't even notice the Lonely Hearts Club shade because i was blinded with anger at Lies only getting 9/10 :o LHC is probably my second favourite on the album :drama: This is the problem when you have such a strong album to rate!

 

 

<3 at Buy The Stars getting a full 10/10. The most underrated track. :(

If that's at #212, I reckon you should've cut it down to a top 211.

I didn't even notice the Lonely Hearts Club shade because i was blinded with anger at Lies only getting 9/10 :o LHC is probably my second favourite on the album :drama: This is the problem when you have such a strong album to rate!

 

Where do all you people with bizarre Marina taste come from? :P

 

:(

 

 

If that's at #212, I reckon you should've cut it down to a top 211.

 

Can I change that to a top 213 and put in Sam & The Womp for the memories? Lana hate won't be tolerated here though, begone with you.

Can I change that to a top 213 and put in Sam & The Womp for the memories?

 

Are you purposefully trying to wind me up? :lol: I heard that again yesterday and decided it was the most annoying song of 2012.