18 - Public Service Broadcasting 'Night Mail' (#01)

 

 

I wouldn't necessarily say this was Public Service Broadcasting's best song (that would probably go to 'Everest' or 'Spitfire') but this is probably my favourite, purely because of how bizarre it is. Making rap out of information films about delivering mail is one of the oddest yet most wonderfully uplifting things, and I regularly find myself quoting bits of it.

 

Previous entries:

Everest (#31, 2012)

Signal 30 (#46, 2013)

 

17 - HAERTS 'Hemiplegia' (#01)

 

 

My Christmas number one for 2013, after the quality of 'Wings' at the end of last year I was excited for more material from them this year but I was never able to get into 'All The Days' and I pretty much forgot about them, but recent single 'Hemiplegia' is everything I'd have wanted from them, insanely catchy and wonderfully built up.

 

Previous entries:

Wings (#85, 2012)

 

16 - Polica feat. Justin Vernon 'Tiff' (#02)

 

 

I wasn't expecting Polica to return barely a year after their debut album so this caught me by surprise, and teaming up with Bon Iver vocalist Justin Vernon was a good change in direction for them. Whilst Justin's part isn't the biggest their vocals compliment each other as well as anything ever has, 'Tiff' is the exact type of song he's best suited to.

 

Previous entries:

Dark Star (#89, 2012)

Lay Your Cards Out (#71, 2012)

 

15 - Daft Punk feat. Pharrell Williams 'Get Lucky' (#01)

 

 

Like most people seemed to be, I was utterly obsessed with this at the beginning of the summer. I was never a massive Daft Punk fan, 'Discovery' is a superb album but I think the majority of their other output is pretty rubbish, so it wasn't something I was hyped for at all, but 'Get Lucky' is one of the most wonderfully catchy and instant songs ever made. It's no surprise it's been such a huge hit and it's fully deserved to, so simple yet so clever at the same time.

 

 

14 - Goldroom feat. Say Lou Lou 'Sweetness Alive' (N/A)

 

 

This was a song I adored upon first listening to it and it has only continued to grow on me throughout the year. It's about as perfect as pop can get, beautiful dreamy vocals, incredibly catchy and a great tune. Songs like this are what makes partaking in BJSC/UP worthwhile.

 

Previous entries (Say Lou Lou):

Fool of Me (feat. Chet Faker) (#97, 2013)

Better In the Dark (#76, 2013)

 

13 - Yeah Yeah Yeahs 'Despair' (#02)

 

 

Yeah Yeah Yeahs are often at their best when they're at the more mellow side of rock and 'Despair' certainly proves that, it's wonderfully chilled and stripped back but builds superbly well and shows off Karen O's vocals as well as anything they've ever made has done.

 

Previous entries:

Maps (#10, 2003)

Gold Lion (#92, 2006)

Heads Will Roll (#62, 2009)

Zero (#12, 2009)

Skeletons (#53, 2010)

Sacrilege (#63, 2013)

Edited December 26, 201311 yr by RabbitFurCoat

12 - St. Lucia 'Elevate' (#01)

 

 

When the vocal to this first kicks in I think it's going to be far cheesier than it ever ends up being. What it actually turns into is a wonderfully overblown slice of synth pop, incredibly uplifting with a sing-a-long chorus, it was the perfect song to soundtrack the end of the summer.

 

Previous entries:

We Got It Wrong (#40, 2012)

 

11 - Sailor & I 'Tough Love' (#04)

 

 

The highest placed single not to make my personal chart top 3, this is something that I've begun to love even more as the year's gone on. It's incredibly heartfelt and the strings get me every time. I keep waiting for more Sailor & I but nothing as yet. Every year there's always something great to emerge from Sweden.

I shall start the top 10 tomorrow. One act feature twice, only one song came even close to charting officially in the UK yet the top 10 as a whole feels like it's a well known and popular bunch of tracks, which probably says something about me and / or this site.

Hey! Don't know as many of these but the bjsc entries so far are mostly all wonderful. Nice to see Deptford Goth featuring elsewhere too, doesn't get enough love on here.

 

'Sweetness Alive' is a major highlight. The 'Embrace' EP is a beauty (even if you're not as big a fan on the title track from what i remember :P), would love a full album.

Wow, I've missed some absolutely cracking singles.

 

"2013", "Youth", Supreme", "Line Of Fire", "Love Is Lost (James Murphy Remix)", "Love Me Again", "Overgrown", "Night Mail", "Hemiplegia" :wub: , "Tiff", "Get Lucky", Despair", and "Elevate". All really great songs that I played lots in the past year. Can't wait for the Top 10.

 

I am predicting Jagwar Ma and Arctic Monkeys (Do I Wanna Know?) to be there!

Hemipliegia, Tiff and Elevate are some of my favourites that have been lingering in my personal chart in the past year, quite a few others though. I tend to find a lot of new discoveries in your personal chart while slimming the multichart now and than. And all the hoo ha with Overdose :lol:

Hey! Don't know as many of these but the bjsc entries so far are mostly all wonderful. Nice to see Deptford Goth featuring elsewhere too, doesn't get enough love on here.

 

'Sweetness Alive' is a major highlight. The 'Embrace' EP is a beauty (even if you're not as big a fan on the title track from what i remember :P), would love a full album.

 

Thanks, 'Embrace' is decent enough but I don't like it anywhere near as much as 'Sweetness Alive', I might have to check the EP out though. Hopefully you'll be familiar with most of the top 10.

 

Wow, I've missed some absolutely cracking singles.

 

"2013", "Youth", Supreme", "Line Of Fire", "Love Is Lost (James Murphy Remix)", "Love Me Again", "Overgrown", "Night Mail", "Hemiplegia" :wub: , "Tiff", "Get Lucky", Despair", and "Elevate". All really great songs that I played lots in the past year. Can't wait for the Top 10.

 

I am predicting Jagwar Ma and Arctic Monkeys (Do I Wanna Know?) to be there!

 

 

Thanks a lot, good to see you liking so many! You may well be right there...

 

Hemipliegia, Tiff and Elevate are some of my favourites that have been lingering in my personal chart in the past year, quite a few others though. I tend to find a lot of new discoveries in your personal chart while slimming the multichart now and than. And all the hoo ha with Overdose :lol:

 

 

Thanks Martin, good to know people pay attention to my chart when I post it! :D

10 - Arcade Fire 'Reflektor' (#01)

 

 

Arcade Fire releasing new material is always something to look forward to, and maybe one day it'll disappoint, but whilst some of their tracks are hardly instant 'Reflektor' didn't need any time for me to realise its brilliance. It's gloriously fun, could go on for far longer than the 7.5 minutes that it does and the alternating of vocals between Win and Regine (particularly when she sings in French) is utterly divine. Perhaps surprisingly this is only the second time they've made my End of Year top 10, though they're a good enough band that more could follow.

 

Previous entries:

Neighborhood #3 (Power Out) (#89, 2005)

Wake Up (#50, 2005)

Rebellion (Lies) (#02, 2005)

No Cars Go (#39, 2007)

Keep The Car Running (#34, 2007)

Intervention (#14, 2007)

The Suburbs (#83, 2010)

We Used To Wait (#58, 2010)

 

09 - Ghost Loft 'So High' (#02)

 

 

Unlucky to have not been a personal number one after its release coincided with me obsessing over 'Get Lucky', this was the quick follow-up to 'Seconds'. It was something I loved instantly, so enticing and beautiful, and perfectly produced. A third single at some point really would be most welcome.

 

Previous entries:

Seconds (#73, 2013)

 

08 - Jessie Ware 'Imagine It Was Us' (#03)

 

 

After featuring as vocalist on three entries in the bottom half of the 100 Jessie Ware finally gets her fourth appearance here and 6th in two years. It's something of a regret of mine that I paid almost no attention to here for a long while, never really bothering until the back end of 2012 long after she'd released most of her best singles. 'Imagine It Was Us' is a perfect slice of catchy dance-pop that shows off her soulful voice brilliantly which spent the entire summer bouncing around the top 10 of my personal chart. I'm sure there's potential for her to be massive, if there was any justice she'd swap successes with the other Jessie.

 

Previous entries:

110% (#51, 2012)

Wildest Moments (#21, 2012)

Adorn (feat. Miguel) (#99, 2013)

Aaliyah (feat. Katy B & Geeneus) (#70, 2013)

Peppermint (feat. Julio Bashmore) (#55, 2013)

 

07 - Arcade Fire 'Afterlife' (#03*)

 

 

And almost as soon as they get their 9th End of Year appearance they rack up their 10th. If one of the main strengths of 'Reflektor' was the way Win and Regine compliment each other this is taken to another level on 'Afterlife', Regine's backing working so well with the main vocal. The result is arguably the most accessible and poppiest song they've ever made. It's certainly one of the catchiest and I'm sure the chorus could be pleasantly stuck in most people's heads like it has been for virtually all of December and likely most of January to as it looks set to spend the best part of the month at the top of my chart.

 

Previous entries:

Neighborhood #3 (Power Out) (#89, 2005)

Wake Up (#50, 2005)

Rebellion (Lies) (#02, 2005)

No Cars Go (#39, 2007)

Keep The Car Running (#34, 2007)

Intervention (#14, 2007)

The Suburbs (#83, 2010)

We Used To Wait (#58, 2010)

Reflektor (#10, 2013)

g'won Ghost Loft!

 

(hadn't seen that video for Tiff until just now ;o yikes~)

 

06 - I Am Kloot 'These Days Are Mine' (#01)

 

 

Hailing from Manchester, a singer with a voice that can be so beautiful and angelic, going since the early 1990s and releasing some of their best music on their 6th album, the predominant use of strings in some of their songs. There are so many similarities that it's no real surprise that Guy Garvey and Craig Potter of Elbow were the producers of I Am Kloot's 6th album. 'These Days Are Mine' is its swansong, 6 minutes of unbridled Northern joy. There simply aren't enough harmonicas in music today (actually there probably are, it makes their rare use sound better).

g'won Ghost Loft!

 

(hadn't seen that video for Tiff until just now ;o yikes~)

 

I was both pleased and disappointed when 'So High' won, delighted it won but it could so easily have been me a contest or two before but would never have imagined it doing so well. Plus I did like the song I did send to the contest before more...

 

Just watched it because of your comment, never seen it before. Wow!