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/ \ 44 :: SKRILLEX AND THE DOORS :: "BREAKN' A SWEAT" / \

 

21-14-6-7-7-11-17-29-x

 

 

The first of two entries from American noise maestro Skrillex off his 2012 'Bangarang' EP. A strange collaboration with the surviving members of 60s/early 70s band The Doors, 'Breakn' A Sweat' is pretty much just a series of discordant noises laced with random shouts that shouldn't sound good at all but somehow manages to do so. The shouts of 'that's good' during the main instrumental part are apt and the oddball inclusion of a fairly lengthy sample from an old interview predicting the rise of electronic music just before bursting into that main riffamajig again is the best part of the song. Skrillex is often criticised heavily and I can completely understand why but with tunes like this and 'Bangarang' (as well as a couple of others off the EP) I can't join the hate brigade just yet.

 

/ \ 43 :: PROFESSOR GREEN :: "REMEDY" (FEAT. RUTH ANNE) / \

 

18-16-20-9-5-8-15-18-x

 

 

Professor Green is a very hit-and-miss artist with me, capable of brilliant tunes like 'Monster' and 'Jungle' but also uninteresting songs like 'Just Be Good To Green' and 'Read All About It'. This is very much in the former category, obviously. When it comes to pop-rap/dance-rap songs with a female tacked on for the chorus I almost invariably find the verses and oddly usually the second verse to be the best part of the song and this one is no exception, with the second verse being perhaps the best verse on any of the Professor's singles to date. The chorus was a grower after initially thinking it greatly let down the rest of the song. Just glad the Ruth Anne featured on this was a randomer rather than her horrific namesake off The Voice UK, though it's fair to say neither are exactly household names these days.

 

/ \ 42 :: MADEON :: "FINALE" / \

 

16-7-3-4-14-28-x

 

 

Here's the second and last appearance from Madeon, falling just a couple of places short of my top 40. It's yet another case of a song where the vocals add very little and I love it mostly because of the instrumental, although the instrumental combined with the line 'brace yourself for the grand finale' (I couldn't recall off the top of my head what the rest of the lyrics even are) would make a fantastic soundtrack to sports coverage and indeed I'm pretty sure it has been used in some coverage of sports events despite being largely ignored on release, only just making the official top 40.

Edited by Bré

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/ \ 41 :: JAY-Z AND KANYE WEST :: "NO CHURCH IN THE WILD" (FEAT. FRANK OCEAN) / \

 

24-26-25-2-3-3-3-4-8-13-17-22-x

 

 

Agonisingly close to the top 40 (really into 'every song is 11/10' territory by this stage) is this masterpiece from Jay-Z and Kanye - the latter I believe has more entries than anyone else in my top 100, a not-all-that-impressive 4 - off their collaborative 'Watch The Throne' album. Frank Ocean provides a slick and understated RnB-flavoured chorus which works perfectly with the similarly minimalistic backing music, while Jay-Z and Kanye deliver brilliant verses as usual, with Kanye once again stealing the show with his deep musings on religion and monogamy and slightly less deep musings about making a 'stripe like a zebra' with cocaine and a black woman's skin. This never quite grabbed me in the same way as 'Niggas In Paris' which is much higher on the countdown but it's nonetheless a brilliant song from a brilliant album.

 

/ \ 40 :: WILEY :: "CAN YOU HEAR ME? (AYAYAYA)" (FEAT. SKEPTA, JME AND MS D) / \

 

12-6-5-7-11-12-16-16-18-...

 

 

Wiley and his friends open up my top 40 with the clonetastic 'Can You Hear Me? (Ayayaya)' which I somehow prefer to 'Heatwave' despite it A) sounding exactly the same, which almost invariably produces a weaker song than the original and B) being released outside the summer period when it would have sounded best. Maybe it's just the fact that it has some variety in rapping with guest verses from Skepta and JME rather than just Wiley repeating the same two verses, which makes it sound more like a complete song than a demo that was artificially doubled in length. JME's part is a lot weaker than the rest, so Radio 1's refusal to play that part doesn't bother me in the slightest. The other three verses are great, especially the very first one which always gets stuck in my head when I hear this as well as the chorus (even though it sounds like it was only half finished with the other half filled with 'ayayaya').

 

/ \ 39 :: UNDERWORLD :: "CALIBAN'S DREAM" (FEAT. DOCKHEAD CHOIR, EVELYN GLENNIE, ONLY MEN ALOUD, ELIZABETH ROBERTS, ESME SMITH AND ALEX TRIMBLE) / \

 

11-3-12-29-x

 

 

This was used in the Olympics Opening Ceremony (for which it was specifically created) in a part where I evidently zoned out a bit because the first time I consciously heard it was actually on the chart show. I have since rewatched the Opening Ceremony and it's used to brilliant effect so not surprised at it almost becoming a UK top 10 hit. This is just a glorious piece of music, I need not write any commentary for it as the 7 minutes and 17 seconds above say it all. In other words, I'm lazy, listen to the song yourself.

Edited by Bré

I'll list my favourites when you're done but safe to say there's lots of lovely things here.

Caliban's Dreams lolllll.

 

Surprised NCITW isn't higher tho, knowing how you stan for Kanjay - and Wiley is dece. I obvs know what your chart up above is like, so thought I'd comment now while I don't woo.

Have you abandoned this completely, Brayden?
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Have you abandoned this completely, Brayden?

 

It shall resume tonight. Possibly.

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Slowly moving on with this. Been really tired and unmotivated in the last week or so sorry (not that anyone really cares)!

 

/ \ 38 :: SCISSOR SISTERS :: "ONLY THE HORSES" / \

 

12-2-7-15-19-29-29-x

 

 

I'm a vague fan of Scissor Sisters, it's not a name I get hugely excited about but they can certainly make a tune when they want to and their 2 best songs have come since they started underperforming in the real world. Their best by far is 'Fire With Fire' but this track, with Calvin Harris on the production, is their second best. I was thoroughly obsessed with this for all of about a week (I'm surprised I didn't impulsively put it at #1 which it wouldn't really have deserved in retrospect, though it'd be a more worthy #1 than a few others we've already come across) and quickly went off it a bit again but I do still really like this.

 

/ \ 37 :: COLDPLAY AND RIHANNA :: "PRINCESS OF CHINA" / \

 

4-3-6-15-22-x(23)-18-20-8-4-3-4-4-5-8-13-15-22-25-x

 

 

Charted at #3 in the wake of their album release and didn't manage to best that peak on its single release in 2012, though it did match it. I appreciate how Coldplay took the move of doing a song with Rihanna to get a guaranteed hit (really that's the only reason it happened) but they didn't actually make the song an obvious hit, in fact I think this sounds very little like the other big hits of the year and if it were by anyone other than a collaboration of two of the decade's biggest acts it would have flopped on its arse. By no means anywhere near the best song on 'Mylo Xyloto' and in fact probably one of my least favourites on there, but then it's an almost entirely 10/10 material to me with the exception of 'U.F.O.' which I can't get into.

 

/ \ 36 :: DAVID GUETTA :: "TITANIUM" (FEAT. SIA) / \

 

13-13-17-x(20)-5-5-5-8-12-18-25-28-x

 

 

Another song that originally charted in 2011 both on my chart and the official chart, I really disliked this the first few times I heard it and I can't understand why. Obviously grew on me even at the time of its promo single release to become a top 15 hit but it only properly clicked around the time the incredible video came out which propelled it into the top 5, although it stalled at #5 for three weeks before dropping back out again criminally quickly. These days its impact is a little bit lessened due to sheer overexposure being one of the year's biggest hits and all and also because the indirect follow-up 'She Wolf (Falling To Pieces)' (not Guetta's next single but his next that featured Sia) is a lot better.

Edited by Bré

These days its impact is a little bit lessened due to sheer overexposure being one of the year's biggest hits and all and also because the indirect follow-up 'She Wolf (Falling To Pieces)' (not Guetta's next single but his next that featured Sia) is a lot better.[/i]

 

y'what?

 

I just can't.. in what universe...

 

I do really love those last 3 tho... become more of a fan of the Scissor Sisters plz.

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That's probably partially caused by the former reason. 'Titanium' has grown to sound quite BASIC while 'She Wolf (Falling To Pieces)' still has its edge. It's all about the breakdown.
I hate breakdowns (unless they belong to Where Have You Been) so that partially explains it.
  • 10 months later...
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I never finished this (shock) and I'm due to start a new one v soon so here's the rest. All top tunes etc.

 

1 Porter Robinson - Language

2 Plan B - ill Manors

3 Swedish House Mafia - Greyhound

4 Jay-Z and Kanye West - Niggas In Paris

5 Calvin Harris feat. Florence Welch - Sweet Nothing

6 Ellie Goulding - Figure 8

7 The Wanted - Chasing The Sun

8 Rudimental feat. John Newman - Feel The Love

9 Florence + The Machine - Spectrum

10 Disclosure feat. Sam Smith - Latch

11 Kanye West, Jay-Z and Big Sean - Clique

12 Swedish House Mafia vs. Knife Party - Antidote

13 Rudimental feat. John Newman and Alex Clare - Not Giving In

14 Azealia Banks feat. Lazy Jay - 212

15 Drake feat. Lil Wayne - The Motto

16 Skrillex feat. Sirah - Bangarang

17 Robbie Williams - Candy

18 Calvin Harris feat. Example - We'll Be Coming Back

19 Mumford & Sons - I Will Wait

20 Olly Murs feat. Flo Rida - Troublemaker

21 Ellie Goulding - Anything Could Happen

22 Adele - Skyfall

23 Coldplay - Charlie Brown

24 Usher - Climax

25 Swedish House Mafia feat. John Martin - Don't You Worry Child

26 Plan B - Lost My Way

27 M.I.A. - Bad Girls

28 Gotye feat. Kimbra - Somebody That I Used To Know

29 Drake feat. The Weeknd - Crew Love

30 David Guetta feat. Sia - She Wolf (Falling To Pieces)

31 Angel - Wonderful

32 fun. - Some Nights

33 The Lumineers - Ho Hey

34 Of Monsters And Men - Little Talks

35 Rizzle Kicks - Mama Do The Hump

 

Will my 2013 year end be less commercial whorish? More? About the same? WAIT N FIND OUT. (in a few weeks + the rest of the year it takes me to count this down)

Your problem (as is many people's) is you write far too much about songs low down so by the time you get to songs you actually want to write about (and people might want to read about) you've lost most of your interest and it's taking far too long.

 

Anyway, The Wanted aside that's a pretty wonderful top 10. I don't recall 'Language' though.

Edited by RabbitFurCoat

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That's pretty much right. Think I might do what Harve has done and only write stuff about the top 40 next time (though I'm still gonna post a top 100).
That top 10 is flawless :heart: And yay for us sharing 2 songs in our 2012 EOY chart top 3s! It's unlikely that we'll share any of those this year though, unless you're a big Avicii fan :lol:
I haven't actually heard your #1 ever, oops. I WILL GET ROUND TO THAT (along with the 389480943 things I need to do this week (that I'm not currently doing now)).

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