June 3, 201510 yr Hmm, I thought that the remaining Top 40 track would be “Midnight City” - but that managed to peak at an impressive 34. I can't think of many #38 hits off the top of my head to be honest. It's definitely not DJ Zinc ft. Ms Dynamite “Wile Out” 38 peaker from February 2010 that's for sure. Could it be (rho x L ) divided by A ? :o
June 3, 201510 yr Author I can't think of many #38 hits off the top of my head to be honest. It's definitely not DJ Zinc ft. Ms Dynamite “Wile Out” 38 peaker from February 2010 that's for sure. Could it be (rho x L ) divided by A ? :o I don't even know what those things are that you mentioned there. :lol:
June 3, 201510 yr I don't even know what those things are that you mentioned there. :lol: I was being cryptic as to not give it away. :P
June 3, 201510 yr Author px42qZcCeRU 10 The Irrepressibles - Two Men In Love 2012 2012 is looking like the classic year for songs this decade, so far. Two Men in Love is a staggeringly affecting song. The debt to Antony Hegarty is obvious but disputed by the band themselves. It's quite an accurate sonic description of falling in love. The opening half is delicate and intimate - space is used incredibly well in it and the song just breathes. Then it erupts into an absolute belter of a declaration - shouting from the hill tops. It's almost too much. Why this wasn't at the top of every critic's best of 2012 list is beyond me. Astounding.
June 3, 201510 yr Author BQeMxWjpr-Y 9 Coldplay - Midnight 2014 After 5 albums of mostly anthemic, polite but rousing music, Coldplay actually surprised me with this track. Gauzy, glowing, hypnotic and quite beautiful - Midnight is one of the best things they've ever done. Thankfully they avoided what must have been an incredibly tempting prospect of going back to the Coldplay template and resolving the whole thing with a crowd-pleasing chorus. They followed it with Magic, which was ok but they went and ruined the whole era by releasing Sky Full of Stars which is a painfully predictable song that sounded exactly what you'd expect a Coldplay song produced by Avicii to sound. :Sadface:
June 3, 201510 yr Author That's it for tonight. 8 songs left In no particular order..... band duo band band male solo male solo female solo band feat. female solo
June 4, 201510 yr Author 8eV8WJaN0h8 8 Delphic - Acolyte 2010 Way back at the start of 2010 Delphic were the next big thing, in certain circles. NME certainly hyped them and they sorta of came along in the slip-stream of The Klaxons as a dance-indie rock hybrid. Much was made of their Manchester roots and that city's founding of indie-dance. There were plenty of New Order comparisons and a few Orbital and Chemical Brother references in reviews too. Acolyte, however, is so gracefully opened that it was likened to a collaboration between Sigur Ros and the Chemical Brothers. I can't think of a better description. It's has the shimmer and beat-mashing peak of late 90s Chems and when one-of many climaxes happens at 2:57 the song blows my mind. Of course it's far from over at that stage and it goes on to peak again and again, like great Chemical Brothers tracks.
June 4, 201510 yr Author ktgznOFpXeY 7 Orbital | Never 2011 Being a huge Orbital fan since 1996 meant that I always wanted to hear new stuff by them. I remember the first time I heard this, I almost cried. It was so beautiful simple and yet complex. The beautiful sine wave synth, their trade-mark female vocal samples and that four-note hook that comes at the end of each chorus. Amazing. One of my most played songs of the decade and their best track since Technologique Park from the XXX soundtrack.
June 4, 201510 yr Author Kgd-b8X3meA 6 Will Young - Come On 2011 I was't aware that this was a cover version until a few weeks ago. It was written by Kish Mauve in 2009. Does anyone have any idea why this wasn't a huge hit? It's by far my favourite Will Young single - that chorus is instant and his voice is its usual perfection. I don't get why this wasn't the lead single. :wub:
June 7, 201510 yr Author 0-85bIZv-Do 5 Yeasayer - Madder Red 2010 I'd seen the name Yeasayer mentioned in the NME and online but assumed because the name was analogous to Naysayer that they were some sort of archaic throwback capitalising on the popularity of Mumford and Sons. Little did I know they were nothing of the sort. My first aural experience with them were when Q put out a sampler CD in 2010 and the single O.N.E was on it. It took a listen or two to get the madness of it but it was so much camp fun - a sort of cross between Scissor Sisters and Hot Chip with an funky 80s sheen. Anyway, it was certainly enough for me to investigate the album Odd Blood which is one of my favourites of the decade. Madder Red, however was a different matter altogether. Gone was the camp joy and in its place was an emotional tug of relationship doubts. It takes quite a long time to get to the chorus (well over 2 mins) so it necessarily must be a bit of a grower. But when the chorus is such a melancholic resignation it needs a decent build up. It ended up being the final single from Odd Blood with a frankly bizarre video.
June 7, 201510 yr Author Cr-SqRWImmI 4 Marina and the Diamonds - Oh No! 2010 My relationship with Marina is somewhat a regular story of not liking an artist because their first few singles do nothing for me, or in the case of Marina, puting me right off. When the pres started promoting her in 2009 I went straight for I Am a Robot and all I could get was Regina Spektor-escqe soprano which never did anything for me (....I know! ) So then Hollywood came out and I gave her another chance and that was even more irritating - especially the verses. What happened next was that a friend of mine asked me to download her album as he had no internet at the time. So, I decided to give the whole thing a listen and to my joy, the singles were no way the most interesting things on it. It slowly grew - like Marina albums do - to reveal a sheer force of invention and hooks. In time Oh No! became a favourite and close to being an overplayed favourite at that. But it seems it takes a lot of overplaying to kill Oh No! The production is so wonderful. There's a squealy synth used to highlight the final word in the first line of the chorus that endlessly excite my brain. Then they're the attack of the middle-8 resolution and the da-da-da backing vocals in the final chorus that make me swoon. Best pop song of the decade. Edited June 7, 201510 yr by AntoineTTe
June 7, 201510 yr There is something very nostalgic about “Madder Red” - definitely one of my favourites from the album. I also love the video! Incidentally Odd Blood pretty much dominated February 2010 - I was working at RAF Waddington at the time and had to get the bus in from Lincoln.. the album that got me through most of those cold snowy journeys was that aforementioned one. I think “O.N.E.” is the one that I still come back to the most, the only song of theirs to become a chart hit in the UK in the loosest possible sense (it charted at #190 in April).
June 7, 201510 yr Author O.N.E doesn't pack the emotional punch that Madder Red or I Remember does. I also prefer Ambling Alp.
June 7, 201510 yr O.N.E doesn't pack the emotional punch that Madder Red or I Remember does. I also prefer Ambling Alp. Maybe so, but it's a far better track IMO. Quite a brave subject to tackle too. I like “Oh No!” - it is campy fun, but “Obsessions” is in a different league (though to be fair that was released in 2009 and so wouldn't count for this countdown). Of her 2010s material I think “Radioactive” might be my favourite.
June 7, 201510 yr Kgd-b8X3meA 6 Will Young - Come On 2011 I was't aware that this was a cover version until a few weeks ago. It was written by Kish Mauve in 2009. Does anyone have any idea why this wasn't a huge hit? It's by far my favourite Will Young single - that chorus is instant and his voice is its usual perfection. I don't get why this wasn't the lead single. :wub: Oh my!!!! I absolutely adore this too, although I did like the original also. This may well be the best inclusion of your entire list for picking a great track that nearly everyone else under appreciated.
June 7, 201510 yr Author Obsessions is remarkable and was shortlisted for this countdown. The vocal section in the middle is probably the best thing she's ever done.
June 7, 201510 yr Author EctgDDNbrUE 3 Atlers - No Widows 2011 I would not even have put this in the Top 20 favourites if assessing the odds of any of my short list finishing in the Top 3. But as I played all 80 songs short-listed over and over this one started affecting me in the most beautiful way. Clearly, it's tender and beautiful and enchanting and there's no reason not to love it. But many many songs that I never really cared for have those qualities (see much of Mercury Rev's material). But the song speaks for itself and it finds itself rubbing shoulders with my most played and overplayed songs of the past 5 years. As is the way with many of my favourite songs the middle 8 takes my breath away.
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