Very pleased you liked JUTRØ so much! I don't know if you're familiar with his other BJSC entry, Travva (can't remember if you were in that contest), but it's also really good.

 

Hurtsfall was one of my favourite song contest entries as well :wub: Shame they seem so unknown, I love how menacing the track sounds!

 

Thanks, yes I love Substancja. Not someone I've listened to any more of, so I've put that other entry on to a 'to listen' list, wasn't around in BJSC then.

 

Hurtsfall did about as well as I expected it to I think, I was hoping it would be very popular with a few and glad that was the case. Maybe they'll get more of a fanbase going when live music is to return, it doesn't appear they've got any kind of following outside of Nottingham at the moment.

Great to see Aries make it in, and Hurtsfall as well - another BJSC highlight from this year.

 

Giving Beatrice a listen now, I'm really liking it! It's the sort of sound I'm getting into a lot at the moment, every part of it works so well together. I might add it to my playlist now.

 

Thanks Pete. Pleased you like Beatrice, their album is really nice, it can be very dreamy. I only knew one of their songs before this year but have listened to their new and older stuff a lot recently, and think

is probably my favourite of theirs. Aries is great, Gorillaz have definitely become more hit and miss over the years but it's excellent, the three combine really well on it.

So many great choices here that I also really enjoyed this year, it would be difficult to list them all without listing pretty much everything I know. I will have to investigate the unknowns!

 

Particularly great to see this:

 

42 Jorja Smith - Rose Rouge *2* (Loose Ends - #6, 2019)

 

This really hit me in the summer, I'd never really given Jorja much of a listen before - she's had a few hits but never a Top 10 before. I massively overlooked “Blue Lights” at the time. Also on the female singer/songwriter theme I have also been really enjoying Julien Baker's new single!

25 Working Men's Club - White Rooms and People *3*

24 London Grammar - Baby It's You *8* (Rooting For You - #10, 2017)

23 Christine and the Queens - I Disappear In Your Arms *4* (Jonathan - #14, 2015)

22 Zuzu - Skin and Bone *2*

21 Fontaines D.C. - Liberty Belle *5* (Boys In The Better Land - #3, 2019)

 

 

In this section are the third of four entries for both Working Men's Club and Fontaines D.C. White Rooms and People wasn't the first WMC song I'd heard but was the one that drew me in and I've listened to them a lot this year since it was released, Liberty Belle an early year re-release from their previous album Dogrel, on which it was always one of my favourite songs.

 

Zuzu gets a second appearance soon after the first with the equally wonderful but quite different Skin and Bone, London Grammar had what I think is my second favourite song to hit the UK chart this year with Baby It's You, a song you can tell is produced by George FitzGerald whose music I've also liked a lot in the past few years. A fourth year with Christine & The Queens appearing, it seems that posters here and critics have preferred People I've Been Sad but I never really took to that, whilst I Disappear In Your Arms is a banger and goes into my top 3 songs of hers.

I knew you really liked the Aly & Fila track but wasn't expecting it to be in your countdown and so high! It's been a massive fave of mine recently but ended up fairly low down my EOY because of my points system.

 

Baby It's You was pleasantly surprisingly good for London Grammar, I'd say it's my favourite track they've put out excluding Arty's remix of 'Hey Now'.

I always prefer when Chris sings in French - ergo “Saint Claude” and “Doesn’t Matter (Voleur de soleil)” both went to #1.

 

That's not to say “I Disappear In Your Arms” isn't a banger too though, it got to #9 for me.

Particularly great to see this:

This really hit me in the summer, I'd never really given Jorja much of a listen before - she's had a few hits but never a Top 10 before. I massively overlooked “Blue Lights” at the time.

 

Have you heard the original version of Rose Rouge by St Germain? I'm so in love with the original that I perhaps didn't take enough time to appreciate the Jorja cover

 

 

That's not to say “I Disappear In Your Arms” isn't a banger too though, it got to #9 for me.

I prefer her singing in French too - although there is the French version on the EP also - track 2 if you're not already familiar

Have you heard the original version of Rose Rouge by St Germain? I'm so in love with the original that I perhaps didn't take enough time to appreciate the Jorja cover

 

Yes, but only since I heard Jorja's beautiful cover!

 

I prefer her singing in French too - although there is the French version on the EP also - track 2 if you're not already familiar

 

I am, yes -that's my point though, I wish that had been promoted instead as a single. More foreign language songs on radio !

I'll definitely be listening to it soon as the Blue Note re:imagined compilation that it's taken from is currently sat very near the top of my 'to play' pile - which also contains the original St Germain album too as it happens.

 

 

And I see! I did feel it very unlikely that you wouldn't already know that!

I always prefer when Chris sings in French - ergo “Saint Claude” and “Doesn’t Matter (Voleur de soleil)” both went to #1.

 

That's not to say “I Disappear In Your Arms” isn't a banger too though, it got to #9 for me.

 

Good thing this exists then (and is much better than the English version imo, reached #1 in my chart):

 

 

:magic:

 

(edit: oh dandy* already posted about this existing, I need to read more thoroughly... still, doesn't hurt to mention it again :kink:)

 

~

 

BTW I haven't been commenting here but I have been following this - I like the vast majority of the songs in this countdown that I've actually heard, am particularly pleased so far at the appearances of 'BRON', 'Heartbreak', 'Radical', 'Fell In Love With The City', ''96 Neve Campbell', 'Televised Mind', 'Take Care In Your Dreaming' and 'Rose Rouge' (among others which are a little more obvious/'mainstream' inclusions of course). I can't believe I found 'Televised Mind' to be only ok on first listen, it really nails the sound it's going for and is now easily my favourite song from their album (and them in general given I only know ~2 or 3 songs from 'Dogrel').

20 The Avalanches - Wherever You Go (feat. Jamie xx, Neneh Cherry & CLYPSO) *1*/*6*/*1*/*1* (Loud Places - #01, 2015)

19 The Big Moon - Take a Piece *2* (Your Light - #18, 2019)

18 Courteeners - Hanging Off Your Cloud *6* (The 17th - #2, 2016)

17 Bicep - Saku (feat. Clara La San) *3*/*1*

16 DMA's - The Glow *8* (For Now - #1, 2018)

 

 

The Avalanches get their second entry on the chart, I wasn't fussed on the first new material they started releasing but I was always going to be interested in anything with Jamie xx on it, and his influence is all over Wherever You Go, alongside excellent contrasting vocals from Neneh Cherry and CLYPSO. The Big Moon finish one place lower than last years Your Light with its follow-up Take a Piece, with the band getting a rare feat of two

 

Courteeners and DMA's are somewhat predictable top 20 entrants, Hanging Off Your Cloud proving the former have still got it six albums in with something that should translate to being a massive live anthem, and The Glow rivalling last years Silver (#15 in 2019) as being my favourite off the album of the same name. Bicep's Saku is about the newest song in the whole list, something which I'm almost certainly going to be continuing to listen to loads in the early part of 2021.

 

 

Love 'Wherever You Go' as well - I have to say I wasn't really that into anything else from The Avalanches' album besides the two songs that have appeared on this list though. Also love 'Saku', looking forward to Bicep's new album later this month (I'm not huge on 'Apricots' but the other 2 singles have been great)!

I knew you really liked the Aly & Fila track but wasn't expecting it to be in your countdown and so high! It's been a massive fave of mine recently but ended up fairly low down my EOY because of my points system.

 

Baby It's You was pleasantly surprisingly good for London Grammar, I'd say it's my favourite track they've put out excluding Arty's remix of 'Hey Now'.

 

Somebody Loves You hit me far more instantly than a song usually would, and whilst I did think it might be something that'd grate after a while, it hasn't yet and has so far gone 35-28-19-12-7-6-6-4-3 in my chart, unlikely to go higher though behind Saku and Primavera.

 

I always toy with doing a points system, but yeah always go against it as songs have split chart runs but doing it this ways can under/overrate newer songs quite easily.

This really hit me in the summer, I'd never really given Jorja much of a listen before - she's had a few hits but never a Top 10 before. I massively overlooked “Blue Lights” at the time. Also on the female singer/songwriter theme I have also been really enjoying Julien Baker's new single!

 

 

Have you heard the original version of Rose Rouge by St Germain? I'm so in love with the original that I perhaps didn't take enough time to appreciate the Jorja cover

 

 

I'll definitely be listening to it soon as the Blue Note re:imagined compilation that it's taken from is currently sat very near the top of my 'to play' pile - which also contains the original St Germain album too as it happens.

 

Like Dr B, I heard the St. Germain original after the Jorja version, which I did enjoy but only listened to a couple of times. I didn't realise it was from a specific project until I'd listened to about the fourth song from it regularly after I'd spotting them on playlists (usually 6 Music), Watermelon Man (#29) is from that too. I have listened to the full thing and it's really enjoyable and quite varied, but as it's not a genre/era I have any familiarity with so do want to listen to the originals too at some point.

 

I've managed to rack up listening to quite a few Jorja songs in the last couple of years without ever realising it, she's really good and I didn't know there's also an album from a couple of years ago.

BTW I haven't been commenting here but I have been following this - I like the vast majority of the songs in this countdown that I've actually heard, am particularly pleased so far at the appearances of 'BRON', 'Heartbreak', 'Radical', 'Fell In Love With The City', ''96 Neve Campbell', 'Televised Mind', 'Take Care In Your Dreaming' and 'Rose Rouge' (among others which are a little more obvious/'mainstream' inclusions of course). I can't believe I found 'Televised Mind' to be only ok on first listen, it really nails the sound it's going for and is now easily my favourite song from their album (and them in general given I only know ~2 or 3 songs from 'Dogrel').

 

 

Love 'Wherever You Go' as well - I have to say I wasn't really that into anything else from The Avalanches' album besides the two songs that have appeared on this list though. Also love 'Saku', looking forward to Bicep's new album later this month (I'm not huge on 'Apricots' but the other 2 singles have been great)!

 

Thanks for the comments Bre, glad you like so much. I've been the same with the Avalanches really, I hadn't really been bothered by what they first put out (including the Blood Orange one) and only listened to Wherever You Go because of Jamie xx. I've liked a couple since but they've only been ok and not made me want to listen to the full thing though looking at the tracklist I'll probably check out the one with Karen O. I'd agree with Bicep too, although I do think Apricots is great the other two are much better and I'm hoping their album will live up to it.

15 Páula, Povoa & Jerge - Primavera *1*

14 Eve Owen - She Says *1*

13 Jon Hopkins - Luminous Spaces (feat. Kelly Lee Owens) *4*/*1* (Breathe This Air (feat. Purity Ring) - #4, 2013)

12 Bicep - Atlas *4*

11 The Orielles - Space Samba (Disco Volador Theme) *1*

 

 

Just outside the top 10 are song which bookend the year, with my current number one and most recent BJSC entry Primavera, a rare foreign language chart entry for me from a Brazilian/French trio from the EP of the same name which is rather excellent. Luminous Spaces was released at the end of last December, I love Jon Hopkins solo work but it's often taken to higher levels with the inclusion of a vocalist, and Kelly Lee Owens is superb on this 7 minute song.

 

Space Samba was my belated introduction to The Orielles, a tremendous amount of space related fun, and a band I've gone on to listen to frequently throughout the year. Atlas is the third entry for Bicep and the only instrumental song in this 100, it took a while for me to properly appreciate their debut album and given the output from Isles so far, album two may trump it. Eve Owen featured on a couple of songs on last years The National album and was singing with them on tour last December just in time for the release of her debut single She Says at the end of the year, a song which took a while to grow but spent three weeks atop my chart in Feb.

 

I'll be posting the top 10 individually, 5 tomorrow and 5 on Friday.

 

It contains:

- 5 songs by acts who've already appeared in this list, 5 by acts who haven't

- 4 songs by bands, 5 by female solo artists, 1 duet

- 1 song I sent to a song contest on BuzzJack, 1 song that someone else did, at least 1 that someone was prevented from sending

- 2 artists who appear twice

- 1 song which is a cover

 

10 The Mysterines - I Win Every Time

Personal Chart Run: 33-22-14-07-02-04-03-03-05-06-09-13-18-26-35-39-40 (17 weeks)

 

 

The Mysterines were a very late 2019 discovery with their single Who's Ur Girl? prompting me to listen to their Take Control EP and purchasing an £8 ticket to their upcoming tour was a no-brainer. It's been a while since I properly got into a new band that could be described as an indie band, but a varied style an unique voice from then teenage singer Lia Metcalfe they're an easy appeal, with I Win Every Time being the loudest song they'd released yet. Unfortunately, this was the last thing they released in May, they played a good dozen songs when I say them so hopefully just Covid related delays have stopped them releasing more.

09 Circe - Ten Girls

Personal Chart Run: 38-30-21-11-03-01-01-01-02-03-05-09-11-16-24-31-36-39 (18 weeks)

 

 

I discovered Circe through her working with Stephen Ansell of Blood Red Shoes on her 2020 EP She's Made of Saints, of which Ten Girls was the first song released from it. Dark and full of synths with a lyrical inspiration from The Handmaid's Tale, it was a song I listened to loads over the late summer/early autumn. Whilst the rest of the EP doesn't come close to these heights, it is a good listen throughout. Far from my most successful BJSC entrant of the year, but a close run thing to be my favourite of them!

08 The Mysterines - Love's Not Enough

Personal Chart Run: 28-19-14-10-06-04-03-03-04-06-07-11-19-29-38-40 (16 weeks)

 

 

A second top 10 entry for The Mysterines, who ended up in my top 10 listened to acts of the year which is some feat given they've only ever released 7 songs. Released at the beginning in February to coincide with their tour, Love's Not Enough was when I realised they had huge potential, Lia's voice is utterly infectious. With regular support from evening Radio 1 and 6 Music, they've certainly picked up support from the right places to continue to grow with future material.

 

Previous End of Year History:

I Win Every Time - #10, 2020

Edited January 7, 20214 yr by RabbitFurCoat