And now – the top ten. Ten wonderful tunes that have summed up 2011. Happy New Year!
A little later than usual, following an extended break for eating and drinking too much, here’s number 30-11 in my best of 2011.
Spotify playlist so far is here
HERE WE ARE AGAIN. Where did THAT year go, then?
Well, largely it didn’t go into me updating this blog. This was partly a time issue, and partly because I felt I’d lost my neutrality somewhat, since I now have a day job at a record label (that’s a DECLARATION, in case you missed it).
However, I am still addicted to year-end lists. Once again I found restricting myself to 50 impossible. Getting it below 100 was a massive struggle, but I managed to settle on 75, like last year. None of the (asterisked) choices in which my employer has an interest were chosen for that reason (though hearing some of them 15 times a day probably helped influence me at least a little).
My rule every year on this list is one track per lead artist. This means that someone can show up multiple times as a guest artist, but only once in their own right. Clear? Good.
So without further ado, here’s numbers 75-51…
10 Tracks: The Best of May
Posted: 8th June 2011 by instanthits in 10 Tracks, UncategorizedTags: alex winston, austra, creep, digitalism, grimes, johan agebjorn, justice, koudlam, lady gaga, nina sky, patrick wolf, queen of hearts
HELLO. Apologies for lack of posting here recently – I’ve been a bit too busy of late to fit in much of this.
Anyway, just for the records, here’s a selection of some of my favourite videos from in and around May 2011.
Posting on here will still be relatively infrequent for the next few weeks at least, so why don’t you sign up to my Best of 2011 Spotify playlist, which I update much more regularly.
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1. JUSTICE Civilization
2. LADY GAGA Judas
3. CREEP FT. NINA SKY You
4. JOHAN AGEBJORN FT. QUEEN OF HEARTS The Last Day of Summer
5. ALEX WINSTON Sister Wife
6. AUSTRA Lose It
7. DIGITALISM 2 Hearts
8. PATRICK WOLF House
9. GRIMES Crystal Ball
10. KOUDLAM Sunny Day
Canadian electro trio Kidstreet’s rather irritatingly titled X has been doing the rounds for quite some time now, but I’ve only just caught on to its video. It contains a lot of hipsters partying. The song itself is actually quite incongrously naive-sounding, though. There’s a repeated refrain of “I want you so bad it’s wrong”, but the whole thing’s just kind of jolly-sounding and innocent. Still – lots of fun, whistles and danceable bibbling. Lovely drop out and build up around from around the 2:30 mark, too.
Sometimes I skip over these big event videos – I’m rarely quick enough on the draw to have a post up before there are 5000 others doing the same. But hey, what is this thing for if not for rambling on about amazing pop videos?
Admittedly, this isn’t Gaga’s finest hour – either musically or video…ically. But it’s still more exciting than about 99% of things out there. Taking the song first – I love the trashiness of it all, designed for tinny iPod speakers and making that a virtue rather than a hindrance. I love that it sounds like it was tossed off in a few minutes – casual almost-brilliance. It may be a second rate Bad Romance, but a second rate Bad Romance is better than pretty much anything else. And even if you hate the rest of it, three words: I CLING TO.
The video spends most of its time suffering from that thing… where there’s too much going on and the colours are all too similar… that afflicts a lot of big pop productions these days. The amazing costumes and make up shine through as ever, but it is all very BACKGROUND. Again, there’s a big exception, being the entire section with the lipstick gun. Which is ace.
ANYWAY. As you were.
This is easily the loveliest thing I’ve heard in a long time.
Italian-born/London-based Valentina Pappalardo is a folk-indebted songwriter with a little more to her than that first suggests. This is simple, but devastatingly powerful piano ballad of the kind you don’t get enough of these days. Wonderful voice too – cutting, powerful yet fragile. Gorgeous.
The video above is just a little teaser thing, but you can listen to the majestic sweep of the full track below. It’s from her debut release, the Weights EP, out now.
We’re already been introduced to Domino’s Toronto-based electronic pop three-piece Austra, through the 6-minute dark epic Beat and the Pulse (and its rather racy vid).
Next up is the relatively more upbeat Lose It. The video is slightly less gothy lingerie ad this time, and a little more colourful and personal. That’s not to say it’s not still pretty bloody weird though. Amidst all the enigmatic symbolism and operatic cooing though, this is quite pretty.
Video: Hooray for Earth & Zambri – All of the Lights
Posted: 3rd May 2011 by instanthits in VideosTags: hooray for earth, kanye west, zambri
It’s a hipster Kanye cover! Luckily though both Hooray For Earth and Zambri (especially Zambri) are awesome, and this is therefore very enjoyable. HFE frontman Noel ducks the need to actually rap by disguising his voice with an ocean’s worth of reverb. Got to love those Zambri girls though. Fundamentally, this just looks like a lot of fun, doesn’t it?