Posted December 5, 20159 yr It's now December, which means that it's officially Listmas. Which means that it's time for my 8th annual rundown of my 50 favourite songs of the year, which for this period is 2015. Which song will find it's place on the wall of fame, joining my favourite songs of the past few years? Past list toppers have been: 2008. Vampire Weekend - A Punk 2009. Empire of the Sun - Walking on a Dream 2010. French Horn Rebellion vs Database - Beaches & Friends. 2011. The Vaccines - Norgaard 2012. The Asteroid's Galaxy Tour - Heart Attack 2013. Public Service Broadcasting - Signal 30 2014. The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - Eurydice And last year - the top 10 went a little bit like this 1. The Pains of Being Pure At Heart - Eurydice 2. Alvvays - Next of Kin 3. Wonder Villains – Golden Five 4. The Fat White Family - Touch the Leather 5. King Creosote - For One Night Only 6. Billy Lockett – Old Man 7. Go Swim - Call Sign 8. The War on Drugs - Red Eyes 9. In An Instant - Something Right and Something Real 10. Eels - Parallels And to whet your appetite, here's a few hints as to the identities of the songs that have made the list - - Six songs make the UK Top 75 - Ten songs are by acts from Northern Ireland - Two songs are in Japanese - There are three songs in the top 50 which all have the same name, but are all different songs.
December 6, 20159 yr Author #50 Heroine Genghar eiWQsyS5LTs Album: A Dream Outside And we kick off the top 50 with "Heroine" by London slacker-rockers Genghar, who may or may not have named themselves after a Pokémon. It's a subtle yet hypnotic track that reels you in quietly before hitting you where you least expect it.
December 6, 20159 yr Author #49 New November Pure Youth 7o3UbsF1L5s Album: N/A London band Pure Youth really got me hooked on them with “New November”, a song that sees them come across like a mix of The 1975 and Bastille. The moment you realise that you’re really onto something special here is 1:54 into the track, when that wonderful synth riff takes over. Just fantastic.
December 6, 20159 yr Author #48 Get Away From Me Right Now Flemmings ECv9zKD7WNc Album: Shake Well Before Use Ramshackly, low-fi indie-rock is the order of the day for Flemmings. Think Husker Du and you’re on the right track. For those who don’t know who Husker Du were, that means poppy songs with very distorted guitars and recorded in a tin can.
December 6, 20159 yr Yaaay this should be good, 'Touch The Leather' is one that finally clicked with me after seeing it on last year's list! Gengahr's a good start, 'She's a Witch' has to be my favourite from them and 'Heroine' is good also
December 6, 20159 yr Author #47 This House Emerald Armada KNI3Uhgo3Nc Album: N/A The Emerald Armada have long been Northern Ireland’s favouite young folk-rock group. Their St Patrick Day gigs have become the stuff of legend, and the band regularly sell out gigs in Belfast. They also have a knack for releasing great music from time to time, with this year the band giving us the stomping “This House”.
December 6, 20159 yr Author #46 Fairytale Tourist The Corner Laughers HucAF6Pg-vg Album: Matilda Effect New York’s queen and kings of twee-pop next, The Corner Laughers. “Fairytale Tourist” is a lovely slice of fluffy pop that references lots of children’s characters and is as sweet and smaltzy as anything. Great stuff. Previous chart positions: 2014 Midsommar - #42
December 7, 20159 yr Author The next 5 songs are about to be unleashed, including one song that made the UK Top 10. Any guesses as to what it might be?
December 7, 20159 yr Author #45 Por Baixo da Blusa Peixefante GoqdzH5_pVs Album: Lorde Pascal Who would have thought that a Brazilian chill-out track would gain such favour from Buzzjack following its entry in a BJSC spin-off? Well, it didn't do very well, but we liked it anyway. "Por Baixo da Blusa", which translates as "Under Her Blouse", is a great example of Mercury Rev-esque alternate-rock which just envelops, engrosses and overwhelms.
December 7, 20159 yr Author #44 Keeping Up With Jacob Peter Cat oI61TAzKa74 Album: N/A Some literate-pop from London trio Peter Cat, who take their name from a cafe formerly owned by renowned Japanese author Haruki Murakami. “Keeping Up With Jacob” is a Divine Comedy-esque song that floats along like a dream.
December 7, 20159 yr Author #43 Sharks Best Boy Grip sY72AwYAg3o Album: Best Boy Grip Best Boy Grip has long been one of the favourite Derry singer-songwriters, charming me for years with his piano-pop songs which contain deceptively dark lyrics at their core. However, for “Sharks”, he dropped the piano in exchange for some rough, in-your-face guitars, to great effect.
December 7, 20159 yr Author #42 Shut Up And Dance Walk The Moon 6JCLY0Rlx6Q Album: Talking Is Hard It’s very rare to see a rock song make the top 10 in this day and age, but given how “Shut Up and Dance” is so keyboard-heavy and pop-orientated, it is no surprise that the song has crossed over into the mainstream in a way other bands can only dream of. The song was Inspired by something Walk The Moon’s singer’s girlfriend ordered him to do when he wasn’t enjoying himself in a nightclub.
December 7, 20159 yr Author #41 Radio Silence Kassassin Street mazN3N7rdv8 Album: Radio Silence E.P Portsmouth’s favourite electro-rockers next with “Radio Silence”,an in-your-face, paranoid whisper of a song that calls to mind the more brutal aspects of Primal Scream or Pop Will Eat Itself. Previous chart positions: 2014 Centre Straight Atom - #16
December 9, 20159 yr Author #40 Cause I’m A Man Tame Impala hefh9dFnChY Album: Currents Number 40 now, which comes courtesy of Australian psychedelic-rock band Tame Impala. ”Cause I’m a Man” is a woozy track that you would love to listen to when you’re relaxing, floating on a cloud.
December 9, 20159 yr Author #39 Hello, Shooting Star Moumoon zTm666EKYRs Album: It’s our time Something a bit different next. You may/may not (delete as appropriate) recognise “Hello, Shooting Star” by Japanese duo Moumoon as the closing theme to popular anime series ‘Assassination Classroom’. And if you don’t, well it’s basically a lovely piece of wistful J-pop, with a really uplifting chorus.
December 9, 20159 yr Author #38 Chunky Format:B vKiRgcbB6sQ Album: N/a 2015 hasn’t been as fertile for great mainstream dance music has it has been in other years, but there were a couple of gems hidden beneath all the dirt. Like “Chunky” by Format:B for example. It’s a song that reminds me of one of my favourite dance songs, “NYC Beat” by Armand van Helden, with its shouted lyrics and forceful bassline. The music video’s one of my favourites of the year too.
December 9, 20159 yr Author #37 Dimed Out Titus Andronicus 0dX6LL7b8Y0 Album: The Most Lamentable Tragedy Fast, frenetic punk-rock is the order of the day for New Jersey rockers Titus Andronicus. Taken from a concept album about manic depression, “Dimed Out” is a visceral track with somewhat unintelligible vocals that rally against the establishment in many of its forms which gets more and more frantic as the song progresses. It’s a great song, and one of the few genuine punk-rock songs I am aware of that incorporate strings.
December 9, 20159 yr Author #36 Goodbye, Good Luck Lauren Bird 0RqawIHaNGE Album: N/A A lovely little ditty from ukulele-powered Strabane songstress Lauren Bird. The song is something of an anti-love song, with Lauren extolling the virtues of not being with somebody, rather than the opposite.
December 12, 20159 yr Author #35 Sarah The Cadbury Sisters vaOHXyTs11k Album: Sarah E.P Bristol based siblings The Cadbury Sisters won me over in 2015 with their tight-knit vocal harmonies and wonderful mix of alt-pop and folk. “Sarah” reminds me strongly of a more earthly Haim.
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