002 - Bat For Lashes 'Laura' *5th HIT* *PEAK*

31-10-03-02-01-01-01-04-05-07-10-17-23-27-29-36-39

 

You're more than a superstar...

 

History:

Prescilla (#77, 2007)

Pearl's Dream (#50, 2009)

Daniel (#04, 2009)

All Your Gold (#45, 2012)

 

 

So after finishing as runner up in my album of the year countdown, Bat For Lashes (AKA Natasha Khan) completes the double and finishes with the years second best single too, and halves her top position from two years ago with her other wonderful single with a Christian name as its title. It's not often a song clicks with me so much so quickly as when I first listened to 'Laura'. Even songs which are brilliant on first listen I tend to listen to it just the once, but I had to repeat 'Laura' instantly, and then again. I said it's too early to call something the best single of the year, but it'll definitely be up there. And here it is, up there. It's an absolutely beautiful single, so minimal and totallyly haunting throughout.

There are some years where my choice of number one is exceptionally tough ('Take Me Out' vs. 'Mr Brightside', 'Telephone' vs. 'Not In Love' vs. 'Conversation 16') and some when it's a foregone conclusion that I don't have to give it a moments thought ('One Day Like This', 'Holocene', 'Summertime Clothes'). This year was one which definitely fell into the latter...

 

001 - Blur 'Under The Westway' *3rd HIT* *PEAK*

24-17-05-01-01-01-02-02-04-05-06-06-08-11-16-19-22-26-28-36-39-40-40

 

Give us the day, they switch off the machines...

 

History:

Out of Time (#08, 2002)

Crazy Beat (#37, 2003)

 

 

So if having a huge dance it and a female piano ballad in the top 3 were very unlike me, then let's complete that with another. Having Blur release my single of the year wasn't something I ever thought would happen, even if my favourite band did ever release new material I didn't imagine they'd be able to get near previous highs, the Record Store Release of the sub-par 'Fool's Day' a couple of years previous only went to strengthen that case.

 

I wasn't overly excited at the prospect of more new material, and I listened to the other side 'The Puritan' first which makes 'Fool's Day' seem like 'Coffee & TV' but it was coupled with 'Westway' which can be added to their host of other excellent slower tempo songs ('Tender', 'This is a Low', 'The Universal'), the lyrics, the constant of the piano, Damon's voice, it's all as perfect as I could've hoped.

100 Blood Red Shoes 'In Time To Voices'

99 Swedish House Mafia 'Greyhound'

98 Arctic Monkeys 'Black Treacle'

97 Reverend & The Makers 'Out of the Shadows'

96 Veronica Falls 'My Heart Beats'

95 Wonder Villains 'Ferrari'

94 The Futureheads 'Beeswing'

93 Django Django 'Hail Bop'

92 No Doubt 'Settle Down'

91 Perfume Genius 'Take Me Home'

 

90 Gotye 'Somebody That I Used To Know'

89 Polica 'Dark Star'

88 Ben Howard 'Only Love'

87 Mystery Jets 'Someone Purer'

86 Emeli Sande 'Read All About It, Part iii'

85 HAERTS 'Wings'

84 Alt-J 'Matilda'

83 2:54 'Creeping'

82 Coldplay 'Hurts Like Heaven'

81 Howler 'Back of Your Neck'

 

80 Dark Horses 'Radio'

79 The Shins 'The Rifle's Spiral'

78 Dutch Uncles 'Fester'

77 Hot Chip 'How Do You Do?'

76 Josh Osho 'Redemption Days'

75 The Drums 'Days'

74 Maximo Park 'Hips and Lips'

73 Santigold 'Disparate Youth'

72 Cave Painting 'Rio'

71 Polica 'Lay Your Cards Out'

 

70 B.Traits ft. Elizabeth Troy 'Fever'

69 Florence + The Machine 'Spectrum' [Calvin Harris Remix]

68 2:54 'Sugar'

67 Alabama Shakes 'Hold On'

66 Marina & The Diamonds 'Primadonna'

65 Diiv 'Geist'

64 Amy Macdonald 'Slow It Down'

63 Fixers 'Majesties Ranch'

62 Plan B 'Ill Manors'

61 Susanne Sundfor 'White Foxes'

 

60 Foxes 'Youth'

59 The xx 'Angels'

58 The Maccabees 'Feel To Follow'

57 iamamiwhoami 'Goods'

56 Gorillaz ft. Andre 3000 & James Murphy 'DoYaThing'

55 Muse 'Madness'

54 Los Campesinos! 'Songs About Your Girlfriend'

53 The Enemy 'Like a Dancer'

52 Hot Chip 'Don't Deny Your HEart'

51 Jessie Ware '110%'

 

50 Orbital ft. Zola Jesus 'New France'

49 Azealia Banks '212'

48 Alpines 'Gold'

47 Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds 'Everybody's On The Run'

46 Maximo Park 'The Undercurrents'

45 Bat For Lashes 'All Your Gold'

44 School of Seven Bells 'Faded Heart'

43 The Enemy 'This Is Real'

42 Bombay Bicycle Club 'How Can You Swallow So Much Sleep'

41 Django Django 'Default'

 

40 St. Lucia 'We Got It Wrong'

39 Kasabian 'Goodbye Kiss'

38 The Maccabees 'Pelican'

37 Grimes 'Genesis'

36 CHVRCHES 'The Mother We Share'

35 Naughty Boy ft. Emeli Sande 'Wonder'

34 Oliver Tank 'Last Night I Heard Everything In Slow Motion'

33 Santigold 'The Keepers'

32 Alt-J 'Breezeblocks'

31 Public Service Broadcasting 'Everest'

 

30 Woodkid 'Run Boy Run'

29 Ben Howard 'The Wolves'

28 Kanye West & Jay-Z 'Niggas In Paris'

27 Yeasayer 'Henrietta'

26 Solange 'Losing You'

25 Jake Bugg 'Two Fingers'

24 Kindness 'That's Alright'

23 iamamiwhoami 'Idle Talk'

22 Public Enemy 'Harder Than You Think'

21 Jessie Ware 'Wildest Moments'

 

20 Alpines 'Empire'

19 Radiohead 'Staircase'

18 The Maccabees 'Went Away'

17 Elbow 'First Steps'

16 Fixers 'Pink Light'

15 Purity Ring 'Fineshrine'

14 Underworld 'Caliban's Dream'

13 Dan Croll 'From Nowhere'

12 Alt-J 'Tessellate'

11 Ben Howard 'Burgh Island EP'

 

10 Sleigh Bells 'Comeback Kid'

9 Rudimental ft. John Newman 'Feel the Love'

8 Crocodiles 'Sunday (Psychic Conversation #9)'

7 Crystal Castles 'Plague'

6 Reverend & The Makers 'Bassline'

5 School of Seven Bells 'Lafaye'

4 Foals 'Inhaler'

3 Swedish House Mafia ft. John Martin 'Don't You Worry Child'

2 Bat for Lashes 'Laura'

1 Blur 'Under The Westway'

 

I'm off out now, so will respond to all comments + comment on others tomorrow! Thanks for reading! :D

Hi Mark

 

Love most of your top 10

 

10 Sleigh Bells 'Comeback Kid'

9 Rudimental ft. John Newman 'Feel the Love'

7 Crystal Castles 'Plague'

5 School of Seven Bells 'Lafaye' Considering not many members chart their music in the personal charts, I quite like the band, and I like their latest effort Faded Hearts of their new EP

3 Swedish House Mafia ft. John Martin 'Don't You Worry Child'

2 Bat for Lashes 'Laura' Such a beautiful track, finished 6th in my YTD chart in the end. :wub:

1 Blur 'Under The Westway'

Hi Mark,

 

Time for the token "radio friendly" comments courtesy of Capital FM. :lol:

 

99 Swedish House Mafia 'Greyhound'

 

Brilliant track from SHM and even the full 6 minute version doesn't leave me feeling restless after 3 minute because it's like a musical jouney. Every so often the track heads in a different direction. One thing that Axwell (I'm assuming he's the man responsible) does really well are those synth breakdowns. *.* 'Greyhound', 'Don't You Worry Child' and 'In My Mind' all have them. For me, it's these breakdowns that really make the song more than just another dance track. 'Greyhound' was also refreshing as an instrumental dance hit too.

 

92 No Doubt 'Settle Down'

 

Poor Gwen Stefani & Co. 'Settle Down' was a great track but there just wasn't any interest with the UK media (lack of airplay) and when they did perform on X Factor there wasn't any interest with the UK full stop. :( Although that was 'Looking Hot' they performed, it barely sold anything.

 

90 Gotye 'Somebody That I Used To Know'

 

What more can we say about this 100% gem? :wub:

 

86 Emeli Sande 'Read All About It, Part iii'

 

As I've posted in other threads, I've found Emeli's album (well, the tracks I've heard) to be on various levels of bland. This is one of the better tracks but tracks like 'Clown 'really don't sell the album to me whatsoever.

 

69 Florence + The Machine 'Spectrum' [Calvin Harris Remix]

 

A mixture of :wub: + :dance: here as this track was one of my summer anthems. Calvin's remix of the song really boosted its profile and I was more than happy when this became UK #1 after thinking 'Payphone' was going to end up #1 again. A :D moment for me.

 

66 Marina & The Diamonds 'Primadonna'

 

Those who know my commercial tastes in music would've probably expected me to really like this track. Whilst it did get to #6 for me, it just didn't have that long lasting appeal that made 'Hollywood' and 'Oh No' bigger hits in my chart.

 

60 Foxes 'Youth'

 

One of my fave BJSC winners and the track that provided Dandy* with his first BJSC win so it was a special moment for him ( :D ) but this is a brilliant pop track. It does make me look back to early 2012 and think why wasn't given more promotion and given the chance to become a potential big bit.

 

57 iamamiwhoami 'Goods'

 

By far the best single from the entire project. I'd not been following iamamiwhoami even though I think Ghosty entered one of their early singles into Unknown Pleasures iirc? Even then, it was all a bit too indie for my tastes. However 'goods' was the exception and it wasn't until I'd seen it #1 in quite a few others charts that I took more notice. Then I gave it a listen and... *.*

 

55 Muse 'Madness'

 

I was really surprised when I first heard this as for some reason I wasn't expecting anything outstanding. However, I really like the style of this song and whilst it's got a harsh, haunting and darker sound to it, I still thought it was a cracking track.

 

49 Azealia Banks '212'

 

The ultimate grower here. When Pavel entered this into BJSC in 2011, my first reaction to this song was "what is this shit?" :lol: I've mentioned many times that your mood can determine how you react to a song. It was only when I relistened through the song from that semi final that I relistened with '212' with a more open mind. Something started to click with me and I resent my votes to include '212'. Maybe it was the Mickey Mouse jumper, I'm not sure! :D Post-results and my opinions of '212' had completely changed and it sneaked in one week at #1 in my final chart of 2011. I really didn't expect this to become such a popular track in the UK though - even though it peaked at #12, it somehow feels more popular than its UK peak suggests.

 

38 The Maccabees 'Pelican'

 

This is a great track, got to #9 in my chart. It reminded me of a combination of Foals, Fleet Foxes and Mumford & Sons all rolled into one to create a brilliant indie anthem. Shame the track never took off in the UK as this doesn't come close to what some Buzzjackers describe as "landfill indie". This was just a brilliant track, and The Maccabees managed to get their highest charting album (for some reason I thought the album made #1 but it didn't).

 

36 CHVRCHES 'The Mother We Share'

 

I'm probably in the minority who preferred 'Lies' but once again it's Grebo who introduced me to another artist who could deliver the good in 2013. Both of their BJSC entries made my top 20 so they've got something good going. Will be interesting to hear what else they've got to offer.

 

35 Naughty Boy ft. Emeli Sande 'Wonder'

 

Damn that pesky Labrinth!!! <_< There I was expecting this to be massive then Emeli performed 'Beneath Your Beautiful' with Labrinth on X Factor and suddenly it was like this song didn't exist. 'Wonder' is so much better than 'BYB' imo but the UK public can be suckers for a good ol' ballad so for me, the thunder was officially stolen.

 

I will comment on your top 30 later.

Hey Mark,

 

Brilliant chart. I did kinda expect the Top 2 because you supported both tracks quite highly throughout the year, but it is excellent to see Blur get the number 1 - I didn't ever expect them to come back, let alone with a great single like "Under The Westway". I thought "Laura" was a great ballad, and because I usually prefer Natasha's upbeat songs I was quite surprised how much I ended up adoring it in the end! :wub:

 

Out of the Top 10 I am of course loving "Inhaler" and am now very excited about the forthcoming album next month. I also love "Lafaye", "Plague", "Sunday (Psychic Conversation #9)", "Feel The Love" and "Comeback Kid", and I am really happy to see Jessie Ware making an appearance.

Nice enough top two Mark, Laura's beautiful and Under The Westway was a surprisingly competent comeback single, not up there with my favourite Blur songs but decent nonetheless!