Howdy, disco citizens!

 

It's now December, which means that it's officially Listmas. Which means that it's time for my 11th annual rundown of my 50 favourite songs of the year, which for this period is 2018. 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

2015. Ten Fé - Make Me Better

2016. Bear's Den - Auld Wives

2017. CHAMPS - The Garden Is Overgrown

 

And last year - the top 10 went a little bit like this:

1. CHAMPS - The Garden Is Overgrown

2. Confidence Man - Bubblegum

3. Drones Club - Hurricane

4. Tom Williams - Everyone Needs a Home

5. Dan Auerbach - Shine on Me

6. Ten Fé - Twist Your Arm

7. Lauren Bird - That's The Truth

8. The War On Drugs - Holding On

9. Childish Gambino - Redbone

10. Confidence Man - Better Sit Down Boy

 

And to whet your appetites, here's a few hints as to the songs that made the top 50 -

 

- 11 of the acts are from Ireland

- 1 is from Japan

- One artist has made the list with 3 different songs, one artist has made the list with 2.

- Sixteen songs are from artists that have made one of my lists in the past.

- Five songs made the UK top 75, including a number 1 single.

 

So, speculate away.

#50

Hugh Jackman

The Greatest Show

 

 

Album: The Greatest Showman OST

 

And kicking off the Top 50 is a song that many of you will be familiar with, as it’s taken from the biggest selling album of the year. Even though I still haven’t seen the film it’s taken from, I’ve heard “The Greatest Show” almost non-stop all year, and its infectiousness has seeped through into this list. Who thought that Wolverine could put in such a barnstopping vocal performance?

 

#49

Son Of The Hound

The Also Rans

 

 

Album: Cheers, Sound, Good Luck

 

Mick McCullough is an Northern Irish music that I’ve been aware of for many years now (he was previously in a band called Colenso Parade, whose members included Phil Taggart, who is now a DJ on Radio 1), but this is the first song of his that has made his way into my yearly list. Recorded under his Son of The Hound moniker, “The Also Rans” is about being a jobbing musician, about dreaming of success whilst continuing to fail to make it.

 

Interestingly, he promoted the single by releasing a 6-part YouTube sitcom about his exploits, which is well worth watching,

.

#48

Kitty Kitty

De Staat

 

 

Album: Bubble Gum

 

Dutch electro-rockers De Staat came onto my radar with “Kitty Kitty”, an infectious, paranoid satire of American politics. It’s a really great song, boost by a music video that amps the unsettling nature of the song up to 11.

 

#47

Be Prepared

Straw Bear

 

 

Album: Fiction

 

English folk now from Straw Bear. “Be Prepared” has lyrics inspired by the scouts, and is a lovely, pastoral tune from a group that really should have become cult favourites by now.

 

#46

Eyes of Steel

Déjà Vega

 

 

Album: N/A

 

At at 46 is “Eyes of Steel” by Deja Vega. It reminds me a lot of “Pelican” by the Maccabees, so if you’re into slow building indie-rock that ends in a cacophony of noise, you will rather enjoy this.

 

Glad to see someone else who likes Confidence Man. My local record store played the first few tracks of their new album and I ended up getting hooked into that album a few days later. The sound of their material reminds me of CSS.

 

The Greatest Show is a great song.

Edited December 15, 20186 yr by SantaDalek32

Nice to see The Greatest Show here! It was my personal favourite of the soundtrack songs, such a brilliant song to lead the film with! (although I've not seen the film either :P)

#45

St Hilary Sings

Seazoo

 

 

Album: Trunks

 

Next up we have some Welsh indie-pop courtesy of Seazoo. Fun fact - in some quarters, St Hilary is considered to be the patron saint of lawyers.

 

#44

Hard Luck Anodyne

Kind Cedar

 

(Not on YouTube. Listen to it here on Spotify)

 

Album: N/A

 

A great alternative-folk tune from one of Northern Ireland’s best kept secrets.

 

#43

Up In Smoke

Town of Saints

 

 

Album: Celebrate

 

Next up we have “Up In Smoke” by Dutch/Finnish folk-rockers Town of Saints, which is about a jaunty a song as you can get themed around the end of the world.

 

Previous chart positions:

2016 Short Circuit Breakdown - #10

 

#42

White Star Liner

Public Service Broadcasting

 

 

Album: White Star Liner E.P

 

In 2018, to coincide with playing the Biggest Weekend Festival in Belfast, Public Service Broadcasting we commissioned to record a 4-track E.P about one of Belfast’s greatest achievements (at least until it got to Southampton anyway), the Titanic, which was performed live for the first time at the festival. The title track from the record, “White Star Liner”, is more of a return to the sound of their first album, with its driving rock rhythms and samples from old archive footage in relation to the event.

 

I was at the concert when they premiered it for the first time, so if you squint hard, you can see me in the accompanying music video.

 

Previous chart positions:

2012 Spitfire - #3

2012 ROYGBIV - #19

2013 Signal 30 - #1

2015 Go! - #8

2017 You + Me - #30

 

#41

Human Touch

Owen Denvir

 

 

Album: N/A

 

And at 41 we have Northern Ireland singer/songwriter Owen Denvir, with his soulful track “Human Touch”, in which Owen creates a virtual choir made up entirely of his own voice as backing.

 

Previous chart positions:

 

2017 You Don’t Want to Love Me - #41

 

Nice to see PSB on here. They make great use of old vocal recordings to fit in spacey, atmospheric music settings.

Wasn't expecting to see The Greatest Show here! I think it's the only one so far I've heard so I'm looking forward to some great discoveries later on :o Definitely the best song from the soundtrack, and better than the film itself tbh which I didn't find as incredible as everyone made it out to be! Panic! At The Disco served it justice too

#40

Pretty Shining People

George Ezra

 

 

Album: Staying At Tamara’s

 

“Pretty Shining People” only just about became a hit in the UK, being overshadowed by the surprise (at the time, amazingly) success of some of the other singles from the album. It’s a pity, as it’s a fantastic song from George Ezra, albeit one that’s quite atypical to the songs that have been big successes for him. It’s an anthemic pop song with an infectious and uplifting central hook.

 

Previous chart positions:

2014 Budapest - #20

 

Giving Human Touch a listen, sounds like something I'd enjoy! I'll try and keep my eyes open for new music from him. Up In Smoke sounds like the sort of thing that would really grow and get stuck in my head for weeks as well.

#39

Hash Pipe

Toto

 

 

Album: N/A

 

This is one of the strangest songs to emerge this year. On Twitter, someone jokingly got in contact with Weezer and suggested that they covered the best song of all time, “Africa” by Toto. Surprisingly, Weezer actually took this person up on their request and recorded their own version of the song (which didn’t make my top 50, sorry to disappoint).

 

Toto then decided that they would return the favour by covering Weezer’s “Hash Pipe”, and surprisingly they turned out a pretty decent version of it. Proof that something productive can come out of Twitter.

 

#38

Lay It On Me

Ten Tonnes

 

 

Album: N/A

 

And beating his brother by two places is Ten Tonnes, with “Lay It On Me”, which has a heavier sound that his brother. I imagine that he’s going to get a major mainstream push in 2019, so don’t be surprised if this gets a re-release and becomes a hit then.

 

Previous chart positions:

2017 Silver Heat - #28

#37

A Man of High Renown

Joshua Burnside

 

 

Album: All Round The Light Said

 

Joshua Burnside has been one of the top purveyors of modern alternative Irish folk music, winning the Northern Ireland Music Prize in 2017 for his troubles. He released an E.P at the start of the year, from which the accordion-led “A Man of High Renown” was taken. It’s quite a dark, yet beautiful song that has so much depth to it. A rather beautifully choreographed video too.