#37

Junior Champion

Tigercats

 

 

Album: Mysteries

 

Did somebody say “chess love song”?

 

London based indie-pop group Tigercats turned up the charm to 11 on their fantastic single “Junior Champion”, a wonderfull little ditty with one the most memorable couplets of the year – “she’s the greatest kisser, and God knows I’m no Bobby Fischer”. Plus, it has a sax solo in it, which is never a bad thing.

 

#36

We’ve Got Love

Calan Mai

 

 

Album: Days of the Rock Face E.P

 

Calan Mai is basically the Australian Frank Turner. Or at least he appears to be on the strength of his single “We’ve Got Love”, a great acoustic-rock song which has some great depth in the lyrics.

 

#35

False Start

We Were Evergreen

 

 

Album: Towards

 

Tropical pop from French trio We Were Evergreen next. They so nearly topped the polling last year with “Leeway”, but this year they could only make a still respectable #35 with “False Start”. The video’s worth a watch if you’ve got a spare minute.

 

Previous chart positions:

2013 Leeway - #2

 

#34

Sunlight

The Magician ft Years & Years

 

 

Album: N/A

 

A bit more dance for you all. The Magician took “Sunlight” straight into the top 10 in the last quarter of 2014, accompanied so finely by the hotly tipped Years & Years on vocals. It’s such an infectious track which calls to mind the best that turn-of-the-millennium dance music has to offer (reminding me in particular of DB Boulevard’s “Point of View”), and a cut above the majority of the identikit dance music to pollute the chart in 2014.

#33

Under The Pressure

The War on Drugs

 

 

Album: Lost In The Dream

 

The War On Drugs is the answer to the question “how do we get hipsters to listen to Bruce Springsteen and Dire Straits in 2014?” “Under The Pressure” is a sprawling, 9 minute song that is Transamerican rock at it’s finest.

 

#32

Bad Luck Song

Shonen Knife

 

 

Album: Overdrive

 

Making their 4th appearance in a row is Japanese female pop-punk trio Shonen Knife. Their latest album has been described as their metal record, and the lead single, “Bad Luck Song”, does have a feeling of “Boys Are Back in Town” about it. But as always, this is Shonen Knife we’re talking about, so it has strange lyrics about their singer thinking a song she knows is bad luck, until she hears it when good things happen and changes her mind. It’s the sort of song that only Shonen Knife could get away with.

 

Previous chart positions

2011 Perfect Freedom - #12

2012 Pop Song - #10

2013 When You Sleep - #32

#31

Perfect Vision

Cheerleader

 

 

Album: N/A

 

Up next we have a song from Philadelphia indie-pop group Cheerleader, and one which was inexplicably used in trailers for Masterchef on the BBC this year. “Perfect Vision” is a perfect slice of dreamy Pains of Being Pure at Heart-esque pop, and rather fabulous stuff at that.

 

oh my gawd Sunlight! :wub: wasn't quite expecting that, one of my tracks of the year

 

#30

Whenever

The Death of Pop

 

 

Album: Fifths E.P

 

Some delicious ‘jangle-gaze’ from Bournemouth band The Death of Pop with “Whenever”. Our very own Suedehead introduced them to me, and I’m very much glad that he did.

 

#29

Lazaretto

Jack White

 

 

Album: Lazaretto

 

He’s about 5 years away from becoming a fully certified rock god, but until then he’s still content to crank out the fantastic tunes, with the highlight of this year being “Lazaretto”, a song which surprisingly sees Mr White adding some chiptune elements to his sound.

 

Previous chart positions

2012 Sixteen Saltines - #22

 

#28

War on The East Coast

New Pornographers

 

 

Album: Brill Bruisers

 

Canadian supergroup The New Pornographers gave us the powerful yet infectious “War On The East Coast” this year, catapulted by its fantastic sing-along chorus. The single shot music video is one of the most visually striking to be released all year.

 

#27

New York Morning

Elbow

 

 

Album: The Take Off and Landing of Everything

 

Up next, we have the world’s classiest band with “New York Morning”. The song is classic Elbow wistfulness, which ranks up amongst “Lippy Kids” and “Asleep at The Back” as one of their most beautiful, introspective songs.

 

2008 Grounds For Divorce - #10

2008 One Day Like This - #39

2011 Lippy Kids - #23

#26

Mesmerise

Temples

 

 

Album: Sun Structures

 

Some great psychelica from Temples in the form of “Mesmerise” (which has nothing to do with the Chapterhouse song of the same name). It’s a pity the band didn’t become bigger this year, but at least they’ve given us a rather nice song anyway.

Now we're halfway through the countdown. Who do we think will feature in the top 25, and who do you think the contenders are for the ultimate #1 slot?

Sunlight is great, I adore the vocals on that song. The elbow song is also very good :wub:

One day is also really good

 

Can't wait for the top 25

Edited December 9, 201410 yr by Ultraviolence1989

#25

Geronimo

Sheppard

 

 

Album: Bombs Away

 

Stellar pop from the Australian sextet Sheppard. “Geronimo” was number 1 for copious weeks in their homeland, yet never really took off on these shores besides a brief foray onto the lower end of the Spotify chart. It’s a real shame, as it’s a corking little pop gem. Is it just me, or does their bassist look a little bit like Victoria Coren?

 

#24

Come With Me Now

KONGOS

 

 

Album: Lunatic

 

It’s not very often you’ll hear an accordion led rock song, let alone one which crossed over to the mainstream, yet South African band KONGOS achieved just that with “Come With Me Now”, a track which you might recognise from the trails running on the BBC for the FA Cup coverage.

#23

Every Other Freckle

alt-j

 

 

Album: This Is All Yours

 

The kings of weird-rock, alt-j, returned this year with another set of off-kilter tracks. Of the songs they offered for our consumption this year, the highlight was “Every Other Freckle”, a track which is so pleasurable, yet undeniably odd at the same time.

#22

Best Day of My Life

American Authors

 

 

Album: Oh, What a Life

 

American Authors took the blueprint set by Imagine Dragons the year before them and ran with it on their track “Best Day of My Life”. Build around some banjo and a cracking guitar part, the song burst its way into the top 20 at the start of the year off a back on a high-profile ad campaign, and well deserved it was too.

#21

Coming Home

Kaiser Chiefs

 

 

Album: Education, Education, Education & War

 

If there’s one band I never expected to reach the top 40 singles chart again, it was Kaiser Chiefs. Yet off the back of their frontman Ricky Wilson’s turn as a judge on The Voice UK, “Coming Home” found itself catapulted into Jameela’s domain. And well deserved it was too, it’s a real return to form for the band, much darker than the material that made them their name in the first place, but a fantastic song nonetheless.