I'm sure you will not be surprised to learn that there's absolutely nothing I dislike so far. I could do without the likes of Arctic Monkeys but they're still okay.

 

Crystal Castles and HAERTS though :wub:

 

 

^Good to hear. There is still plenty more Crystal Castles to come. :D

 

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069 Gorillaz "On Melancholy Hill" (2010) [1,026]

UK chart peak: #78

 

38-27-17-10-05-02-01-01-02-03-07-11-16-22-28-41 (16 weeks)

 

After a 5 year wait, we were finally treated to the third Gorillaz LP in 2010 and despite falling out of favour with the general public (the album hit #2, but didn't not create any hit singles unlike the previous albums) Plastic Beach was one of their finest moments to-date. The best single, and album highlight for me was the 2nd single "On Melancholy Hill" which was actually written by Albarn whilst he was working on another of his projects: The Good The Bad and The Queen back in 2006. 'Murdoch' said of the song: "The Melancholy Hill - it's that feeling, that place, that you get in your soul sometimes, like someone's let your tyres down. It's nice to break up the album with something a little lighter. It's good to have something that's a genuine pop moment on every album. And this is one of those."

Edited September 3, 201311 yr by Doctor Blind

Great countdown. All Of The Lights is probably my favourite so far, it's an utterly captivating song. Hopefully Midnight City will be high up in the Top 20, it's the best song that's likely to be in here.

Thanks Tom, you could be right about "Midnight City" but I can't give anything away. :P

 

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068 Charli XCX "Nuclear Seasons" (2011) [1,029]

 

29-18-05-02-01-01-01-04-06-08-13-18-27-31-37-45 (16 weeks)

 

Charlotte Aitchison has only just turned 21 (in early August) but has been recording critically acclaimed pop music for more than 4 years now, when she is not writing #1 global smashes for Icona Pop she can be found making some experimental pop music of her own. Her debut album has only just recently come out, but her first proper single was released way back in 2011. The follow-up to that was "Nuclear Seasons" which wears its influences very much on its sleeve, but somehow despite being quite 80s pastiche manages to create something that is both danceable but also really quite different. I'm not sure whether this could have ever been a hit, but it'd be nice for her to get some recognition for her obvious talent outside of "I Love It".

Edited September 3, 201311 yr by Doctor Blind

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067 AlunaGeorge "Your Drums, Your Love" (2012) [1,032]

UK chart peak: #50

 

45-28-17-11-06-05-04-04-04-07-09-14-16-19-26-34-43-48-47 (19 weeks)

 

Here is the first act to make a second appearance, and bizarrely (get ready for some geeky stats) it is from a group who have yet to go higher than #4. Yes both "Attracting Flies" (#98) and "Your Drums, Your Love" amassed long chart runs and multiple weeks at #4 but they progressed no further. I think this took so long to grow on me, and was released at a competitive time with loads of other great music around meant it could progress no further. The track is a love song, but with George Reid on production duties it is twisted with the notes and melody expressing the song in an unusual way. The album is equally exciting and rewarding and deserved to do better than #11!

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066 I Blame Coco ft. Robyn "Caesar" (2010) [1,034]

 

49-35-20-10-05-02-01-02-04-06-09-13-20-25-30-37-44-50 (18 weeks)

 

Swedish singer/songwriter Robyn makes her first of 2 appearances here featuring on the debut single by daughter of Sting, Coco Sumner (aka: I Blame Coco). The collaboration came about naturally as she recorded the album The Constant in Stockholm with Swedish producer Klas Åhlund (who works with Robyn). Coco claims that the song "Caesar" was written to annoy her record company (Island Records) who were pressing her to write and record a hit single - which could be argued given the opening gambit "I want to annoy. And I’m going to enjoy it", however I love the track and love the fact that it references Golding's Lord Of The Flies! Robyn recorded the chorus for the song which really brings the track together and makes it a great body of work. She's been a bit quiet since however sadly (both Robyn and Coco), I guess we're all going to have to be f*cking hopers. :(

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065 Robyn "Dancing On My Own" (2010) [1,040]

UK chart peak: #8

 

40-25-14-04-02-02-04-04-06-08-09-13-16-25-31-37-37-45 (18 weeks)

 

DOUBLE ROBYN ALERT! Just when you thought she couldn't possibly match the pure pop genius of "With Every Heartbeat" she only goes and bloody does it again. This was the lead single from her Body Talk trilogy and was according to Robyn herself inspired by "sad, gay disco anthems such as Ultravox's Dancing With Tears In My Eyes, Sylvester and Donna Summer." It is an unbelievably melancholic dance song which uses the perfect juxtaposition of contrasting happiness of the upbeat track and sadness of the lyrics. Robyn said of the track: "'Dancing On My Own' is totally from me just being in clubs and going out and dancing a lot, and seeing people and thinking, 'what are they doing here?' All these people with their hopes and their dreams about their big nights out, 'look at me I'm dressed up and dancing.' There are so many hopes that people have when they go out. I'm fascinated by club culture at the moment. My boyfriend used to be a doorman so I'll hear stories about how people act when they're insecure, or how they act when they're drunk. Clubs are like the new church for people - it's where you go to feel a part of something bigger than yourself." She hasn't topped this yet this decade, but I'll bet by the end of 2019 she'll have done it again.

Edited September 3, 201311 yr by Doctor Blind

you are on a ROLL with that last 5 :wub: going to have to spend a session listening to everything that i haven't heard when you've finished. really impeccable taste!

dr. bish you actually HAVE to make a downloadable playlist or something this countdown is so spot on!! the only song i'd say bye to is cee-lo.

 

glad to see more CC higher up because 'celestica' is far too low. :(

and robyn did the HAND-BIKINI first gaga do u c

ha. I noticed that too! cheap ho.

Still as wonderful as before, few more number ones too!

 

065 Robyn "Dancing On My Own" - 01

066 I Blame Coco ft. Robyn "Caesar" - 01

067 AlunaGeorge "Your Drums, Your Love" - DNC - only because I didn't know it, their best song by miles. Would be easy top 10.

068 Charli XCX "Nuclear Seasons" - 11

069 Gorillaz "On Melancholy Hill" - 09

070 Cut Copy "Need You Now" - DNC - shamefully

 

071 Crystal Castles "Celestica" - 02

072 Disclosure ft. Eliza Doolittle "You & Me" - DNC - I like it though, and the album is great.

073 The Black Keys "Lonely Boy" - 06

074 Yeah Yeah Yeahs "Sacrilege" - 04

075 Kate Boy "Northern Lights" DNC - good song though

076 The Maccabees feat. Roots Manuva "Empty Vessels" - 02

077 Kindness "That's Alright" - 01

078 Arctic Monkeys "Suck It And See" - 01 - one of my favourites of theirs. I absolutely love the first verse; "you're rarer than a can of dandelion and burdock, and those other girls are just postmix lemonade" is inspired :wub:

079 James Blake "Limit To Your Love" - 33

080 Purity Ring "Fineshrine" - 01

 

081 Dog Is Dead "Glockenspiel Song" - DNC - I did download this at the end of the year though, quite like it.

082 Friendly Fires "Hawaiian Air" - 01

083 PJ Harvey "The Words That Maketh Murder" - DNC - Not a PJ fan I'm afraid

084 Lana Del Rey "Born To Die" - DNC - meh

085 Radiohead "The Daily Mail" - I charted this with 'Staircase', whilst I like 'The Daily Mail' I don't like it anywhere near as much.

086 The Joy Formidable "Austere" - 04

087 Cee-Lo Green "F**k You" - 01

 

you are on a ROLL with that last 5 :wub: going to have to spend a session listening to everything that i haven't heard when you've finished. really impeccable taste!

 

Thanks Chris, I have you to thank tho - discovered a lot of great tracks from ur recommendations!! :D

 

 

dr. bish you actually HAVE to make a downloadable playlist or something this countdown is so spot on!! the only song i'd say bye to is cee-lo.

 

glad to see more CC higher up because 'celestica' is far too low. :(

 

"Celestica" is too low I agree - I think it would probably be Top 40 if it was not based on chart points. One band I would LOVE to see live but haven't been able to as-yet. :(

 

078 Arctic Monkeys "Suck It And See" - 01 - one of my favourites of theirs. I absolutely love the first verse; "you're rarer than a can of dandelion and burdock, and those other girls are just postmix lemonade" is inspired :wub:

 

I love that line too - Alex does like putting in random British colloquialisms. :P

Moving on then..

 

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064 Fixers "Here Comes 2001 So Let's All Head For The Sun EP" (2011) [1,042]

 

35-24-15-09-04-02-03-02-02-04-07-10-12-19-27-35-45 (17 weeks)

 

I first came across Oxford's Fixers in early 2011 when they released their debut single "Iron Deer Dream" - which was compared to Animal Collective and does sound remarkably like "Brother Sport" in places. Later in the year they released this EP of which my favourite track was definitely "Uriel" (link above), again it sounds like a mix between Animal Collective and the Beach Boys with melodic harmonies complemented by a huge wall of sound. Jack Goldstein explained the bands ethos "When we first began we were attempting to emulate Phil Spector's Wall Of Sound, we had loads of samplers filled with different instruments so we could make a big sound with just the five of us."

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063 Jessie Ware "Strangest Feeling" (2012) [1,047]

 

48-32-17-10-05-03-01-02-02-05-09-13-19-25-30-38-44-48 (18 weeks)

 

Her latest collaboration with Miguel notwithstanding (seriously, what was the point in this 'remix'?) Jessie has not put a foot wrong so far. Despite not being able to break the UK Top 40, she has managed to chalk up a Top 5 album with her soulful debut Devotion which has now gone Silver. This wasn't the first song I heard by Jessie, that was the sweet collaboration with Sampha (a great artist, who incidentally helped write this track) released in February 2011 entitled "Valentine". However "Strangest Feeling" was the first track by Ware that I played obsessively, with her vocals floating effortlessly across the low synths and heavy beat. It grabbed a solitary week at the top on New Year's Day 2012, but had enough longevity to make the biggest songs list, and we'll be hearing more from Jessie later!

Edited September 5, 201311 yr by Doctor Blind

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062 Lykke Li "I Follow Rivers" (2011) [1,047]

 

37-22-15-08-06-04-04-02-03-04-06-10-15-21-28-37-44-44 (18 weeks)

 

Swedish singer/songwriter Lykke Li came back in 2011 with her second LP Wounded Rhymes and from it the second single was "I Follow Rivers" - a song about being allured and blinded to common sense by devotion - produced by Bjorn Yttling from the Swedish band Peter Bjorn & John. She explained the tracks meaning: "You know when you're kind of into it really badly, you're in some kind of destructive situation, very unbalanced. You're driven by desire, and desire can lead you into a very dark place, whether it be drugs or love, and it's kind of like you're powerless." The track actually became a massive hit over Europe (except in the UK) after The Magician Remix picked up popularity in Germany.

Never really got into "On Melancholy Hill" despite liking Plastic Beach a lot, but some fantastic stuff here. "Caesar" remains a joy.

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061 Oliver Tank "Last Night I Heard Everything In Slow Motion" (2012) [1,051]

 

49-32-20-12-06-02-02-03-03-03-05-07-15-20-29-35-43-46 (18 weeks)

 

Now here is an absolutely beautiful song that I first discovered thanks to Ryan sending it to Unknown Pleasures last year. I am a sucker for strings and the arrangement in this track works to devastating effect. Oliver Tank is a young singer/songwriter from Sydney, Australia and released his debut EP Dreams in 2011; the track "Last Night I Heard Everything In Slow Motion" he explained was a university assignment, but was actually written the night after a crazy evening getting messed up with friends listening to Ratatat (their 9 Beats album) and feeling like everything was moving in slow motion. The song is about "being unsure about something to the extent that it plagues and consumes you", and the track was also picked up for use in a Marriage Equality Advertisement, It's Time bringing the song to a wider audience.

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060 Yuck "Holing Out" (2011) [1,058]

 

33-15-07-03-01-01-02-05-07-07-10-14-21-26-30-36-45 (17 weeks)

 

"Holing Out" is the debut single by British band Yuck taken from their self-titled LP; a noisy and distorted track which shares a fair amount of its influences with the early 1990s American grunge scene. The track is an exciting blend of screaming guitars with a great hook for a chorus, at times the track can be a little grating with screeches of feedback drowning out the vocals, but serves as an appropriate metaphor for the tracks meaning about communication problems. The band consists of Max Bloom (formerly of Cajun Dance Party), Mariko Doi, Jonny Rogoff and Ed Hayes, and have a new album due out later this month which I am very excited to hear!

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059 The Pains of Being Pure at Heart "Belong" (2011) [1,061]

 

32-18-11-05-03-01-01-03-03-06-09-11-17-24-31-39-50 (17 weeks)

 

Here is more 90s influenced indie; this time from New York City band The Pains of Being Pure at Heart and the title track from their 2nd LP Belong. Kip Berman met Alex Naidus who bonded over their love of bands such as Smashing Pumpkins, The Field Mice and Nirvana and went on to form the band, playing at the birthday of (now band member) Peggy Wang - apparently playing five tracks in 10 minutes with song titles longer than the songs themselves! The single "Belong" became the bands second #1 on my chart after the brilliant "Higher Than The Stars" got 4 weeks at the top in late 2009. In an interview with Spinner, vocalist/guitarist Kip Berman discussed the song's meaning: "It's about trying to find your place. We moved away from that very narrative-based, written-from-memory, moral-of-the-story reflective indie-pop songwriting and tried to capture something that is immediate, emotional and can be understood without clear explanation."