May 13, 201510 yr Author Some information on the official chart positions of the Top 20. #2 - one track #9 - one track #38 - one track #48 - one track #87 - one track #193 - one track did not chart - 14 tracks :o
May 13, 201510 yr Tony, this list is excellent as usual... Scheiße is my favourite Gaga track so excellent to see it here - there's only been La La La and Starships so far that I can't say I particularly care for.
May 13, 201510 yr Author Why, thank you. The rest of the chart will be a lot less mainstream - at least in terms of charting singles
June 2, 201510 yr Author 3EAzZKLe5nc 20 Battles - Futura 2012 This is from their second album Gloss Drop. The overriding feature of this song is how very Blur it all is. I can't even figure out which Blur era it sounds like most. The intro is quite "Blur" but it gets all quirky-melodic and starts to sound Great Escape era. It wouldn't be out of place on The Magic Whip. Highly recommended for Blur fans, needless to say.
June 2, 201510 yr Author ftHMy7TbH-E 19 Muse - Big Freeze 2012 The 2nd Law was, for me, quite a disappointing mess of genres, re-hashes of old tricks and precious few glorious moments of magnificence. There were really only three tracks that ever go back to now - Animals, Isolated System and this piece of poppiness. The middle eight guitar solo and final chorus never fails to make me smile. I really wish they'd quit the funk and Queen references.
June 2, 201510 yr Author Bag1gUxuU0g 18 Lana Del Rey - Born To Die 2012 The instant I heard this I fell apart. The voice was so warm and yet so sad. Couched in strings and with polite tip-hop trimmings it was an ever so tasteful affair that wreaked of classicisms. And what you think is the chorus is only the pre-chorus. Lana goes for a feather-light Diana Ross falsetto when the chorus does hit. It didn't help that I'd just spit up with someone and the words all made sense to me. It's a desperate account of co-dependence which is what I was going through at the time. She never came close to this for devastating beauty.
June 2, 201510 yr Author HWWJwpKuIeg 17 Yeasayer - Fingers Never Bleed 2012 I'd been into Yeasayer since 2010 when they released one of my favourite albums of the decade Odd Blood. I was really looking forward to the follow up which I got even more excited about when I heard they said they'd been influenced by Timbaland for it. True to that statement, Fragrant World was quite minimally and percussively produced. This was the stand out track for me. I must go back and listen to the album again. I saw them live around this time and they were really very good.
June 2, 201510 yr I never bothered with that Yeasayer album but I enjoyed listening to that just now... is the album worth a download?
June 2, 201510 yr Author uoEuI59L9s8 16 Underworld featuring Dame Evelyn Glennie - And I Will Kiss 2012 Five 2012 songs in a row. I bet when we heard that Underworld would be working on the London 2012 Olympic theme music and soundtrack no one predicted they would produce something as dignified and poignant as this. I remember the opening ceremony being a very emotional experience for me. As a huge fan of England and London I watched it in awe of how it showcased the remarkable and incomparable development of a great country. I had forgotten that Underworld were involved so it wasn't even in my mind to pay attention to the music but it effected me so much that I got out my phone to Shazam the track. It's quite a long track but I played it many times that year and still get through most of it sometimes - although the first movement is mostly enough to satisfy my needs. I'm not a big fan of the whistling parts. Edited June 2, 201510 yr by AntoineTTe
June 2, 201510 yr Author I never bothered with that Yeasayer album but I enjoyed listening to that just now... is the album worth a download? I would Spotify it or listen on Youtube first. There's only two or three tracks that I remember enjoying and I was disappointed in general. It's not very accessible and quite dark.
June 3, 201510 yr Author BJgDLsssEOg 15 Jai Paul - Jasmine 2012 Comforting, Daft Punk-style chord progression, submerged beats, clipped vocals, funky guitar and a wonderful sawtooth synth to raise your pulse - this is all sorts of amazing. Futuristic and yet of its time.
June 3, 201510 yr 17 Yeasayer - Fingers Never Bleed 2012 I loved “Henrietta” and “Reagan's Skeleton” - didn't realise that they'd released any other singles from that album. Great to see “Born To Die”, although I still prefer “Video Games” and see it as her 'masterpiece' from the 2010s. “And I Will Kiss ” is a phenomenal and powerful track, both that and “Caliban's Dream” really set-off an excellent opening ceremony and silenced the critics who were sceptical of Danny Boyle's appointment of Underworld to curate the music for the Olympics.
June 3, 201510 yr Author bktfrWpqZkI 14 SOHN - Oscillate 2010 We can thank Dandykins for the discovery of this song. Along with the pitter-patter of opening percussion we also have a trick that I hadn't heard before - the reverb of the main vocals is sampled and repeated. So clever. Apart from the obvious melodic hooks, the percolating percussion of the chorus is almost hallucinatory. I also the little fluttery synth that happens several times during the song. It could have done with more of a better middle-eight. It's really just a break down - but I can't really complain when the rest of the song is so full of ideas.
June 3, 201510 yr Author R63XIZOgHkM 13 Active Child - High Priestess 2011 I first heard of Active Child in Unknown Pleasures with his track I'm In Your Church at Night. I was quite interested in the debut album before it came out. High Priestess was the stand out on You Are All I See. There's a definite Kate Bush influence at place. Notably, the synth pads and the lyrical device of commenting directly to a third party about the situation that they face. Then there's the charming and other worldly music. I must revisit the album.
June 3, 201510 yr Author EXK0Ejzin4c 12 Bat For Lashes - All Your Golds 2012 Probably my favourite singer from the last 10 years, she has really maintained a very high standard over her three albums, although the album this came from is the weakest for me. The shimmering synths build throughout the song to climax in a high C that is has within it the tiniest but sweetest moment of euphoria. I've always associated this song sonically with some of the stuff of Yeasayer's Fragrant World, and now that I look up the entry for the producer of The Haunted Man (Dan Carey) I see he also produced Fragrant World. I love my ears! :D
June 3, 201510 yr Author MYSVMgRr6pw 11 Hozier - Take Me To Church 2013 What is left to be said about this song? Now, while I understand why the chorus grates after a few thousand listens - the lyrics are still remarkable. The verse still fills me with a warmth that doesn't happen much any more. And that middle eight is worthy of a classic 60s gospel soul anthem. The video has become as even more affecting than the song itself.
June 3, 201510 yr Ooh, I do like a bit of Bat for Lashes. “All Your Gold” was a fantastic return to form for Natasha and was her only #1 on my chart this decade (she had previously topped the chart in 2007 for 3 weeks also with “Prescilla”). I saw SOHN live at Latitude in 2013 - he was brilliant!
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