Numbers 50-31 below. Numbers 75-51 in the last post. Spotify playlist so far here. So then…
50. Class Actress – Keep You
It was great to see a debut album from Elizabeth Harper’s sultry electro-pop outfit Class Actress this year. Rapprocher largely delivered more of the same as 2009′s Journal of Ardency EP, though some of the more subtle guitar-flecked tracks were sacrificed in favour of a more unified electro aesthetic. On the downside, that meant it tended towards being a little samey. This sparkly lead track stood out, though.
49. Monarchy – You Don’t Want To Dance With Me (Moonlight Matters Remix)
Another act I’d been looking forward to a debut album from was Monarchy. To be honest, I was a little underwhelmed by what we got in the end. Nevermind though, this remix by Belgian electro-disco chap Moonlight Matters (of Villa) gives the original a proper boot up the backside. The correct response to the titular declaration is “yes, I do, actually.”
48. Holy Ghost! – Jam For Jerry
DFA’s Holy Ghost! were a very long time coming. Their buzz single, ‘Hold On’, came out way back in ’07. This year finally saw them do some actual stuff, including release an album of poppy (unusually so for DFA) electro gems. This actually rather sad tale about a dead friend is deceptively catchy. Especially when you’re drunk at 4am on the 4th day of a festival watching them play it. Good times.
47. Kito & Reija Lee – Broken Hearts (Dillon Francis Remix)
First of a few tracks from Dave Nada (of Nadastrom)’s Blow Your Head Vol. 2 Moombahton compilation. Inevitably I have sided with the tracks that spruce up indie-ish electropop tracks, rather than the more authentic originals. However, this is catchy AS and what else do you want? Kito & Reija Lee did some decent stuff on their own too, but none of their own tracks had a massive moombahton breakdown in the middle of them, so this wins.
46. Calvin Harris ft. Kelis – Bounce [*]
I’m not just displaying my obvious bias when I say Calvin Harris had a pretty damn fantastic 2011. A quirk of “who ft. who” means I get to include this, as well as another Calvin track further down the list. And that’s a very good thing. Don’t think there has been a catchier hook this year, and Kelis is in fine voice. The video, if you actually pay attention to it (unlike me for the first 500 views or so) is actually pretty great too.
45. Hooray For Earth – True Loves
I’ve featured NYC band Hooray For Earth in an end of year list before, but this is pretty different from the relatively cheery “Surrounded By Your Friends” from a few years ago. This is the title track of their/his debut album proper, which came out this year. I can’t really describe what this is musically, as it’s a little outside my normal comfort zone. It’s a bit brutal, but underneath all the bluster there’s a subtle and addictive melody that I find pretty difficult to resist.
44. Rachel Goodrich – Light Bulb (ANR Remix)
The original of this is a bit overkill-quirk. Kazoos and other pretty grating larking around from Miami resident Rachel. However, this year fellow locals and buzz band ANR worked a bit of magic and picked out the melody and set it against some head in the clouds-y synthpop. And then somehow it ended up on a BT advert. Still amazing, though.
43. Florrie – I Took a Little Something
I’ve kind of gone a bit full circle on the Xenomania-affiliated singer-songwriter SLASH drummer SLASH model Florrie. I loved her early releases, which tended to have something or other to do with Fred Falke and therefore be awesome. Then her couple of EPs kind of washed over me – a bit too much gloss to take in. However, when they pushed out this track from the Experiments EP as a single I finally woke up. This is AMAZING. Dizzying, exuberant pop of the finest kind.
42. L-Vis 1990 (ft. Samantha Lim) – Tonight
Loved this year’s debut Neon Dreams from London-based producer James Connolly (Night Slugs). Subtle, and lacking in HUGE standouts, but this one is representatively lush.
41. Yelle – Que Veux-Tu (Madeon Mix)
I was already a big fan of French hipster-pop artiste Yelle’s comeback this year. The original of Que Veux-Tu features as part of one of my music video epics of the year. But it’s with this refit from mashup DJ wunderkind Madeon that it really hits the stratosphere.
40. Young Galaxy – Peripheral Visionaries
Lovely, lovely stuff. Delicate guitars and a driving beat, very much lo-fi Fleetwood Mac. Great song title. The video (which kind of calls to mind Radiohead’s Paranoid Android in some non-specific way, for me) – is interesting in and of itself, but feels a bit incongruous with the beauty of the record.
39. Lissi Dancefloor Disaster – Glowing Hearts
Another slightly odd video, but at least there’s some lyrical relevance (if you look hard enough). On to the music – when I first heard Lissi Dancefloor Disaster’s stuff (tracks like Oh My God from a few years ago) I thought it was a bit of a bloody racket, if I’m honest. This, on the other hand, is Knife-pop at its heartfelt, melodious best.
38. Dominique Young Unique – Gangster Whips
Energetic and infectious stuff from a precocious young talent who’s shared stages with the likes of Big Boi and Gucci Mane. Resist this.
37. Lia Ices – Love Is Won
One of about 2 tracks on here that hopefully prove I actually have a heart and don’t just listen to brash/shiny/dancey nonsense. Downbeat but wonderfully pretty folky stuff from a Brooklynite who is named after an ice cream. Like with a rich ice cream though, one scoop’s enough for me – an album of this proved a step too far.
36. Alex Metric & Steve Angello – Open Your Eyes (Original Instrumental)
Epic. Banging. Tune. Then they put Ian Brown on it and ruined it all (though on the plus side, it did have a pretty cool Serafinowicz-fights-robot video).
35. Cut Copy – Need You Now
Cut Copy’s third album Zonoscope was a bit of a slow-building beast of an album. Lacking the punchy immediacy of its predecessors, it yielded its rewards only after multiple listens. This lead single was a definite highlight, particularly at the live shows.
34. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah – Maniac
So… it turns out I still love a good bit of rollicking indie-rock from time to time. And always nice to see a band properly return to form. He still sounds a bit like a spaced-out David Byrne though.
33. Lovelle ft. Lady Chann – Uh Oh
Insanely catchy debut single from 20-year-old Lovelle, which manages to sound authentically London (via a fierce appearance from bashment star Lady Chann) and very radio-friendly at the same time. Would like to hear more from her.
32. Asobi Seksu – Perfectly Crystal
Perfectly Crystal indeed. It’s taken until their fifth (I think?) album Fluorescence for me to properly get into NYC/Japanese dream pop band Asobi Seksu. This track is a pefect example of why I chose now – the waves of layered MBV-esque effect-laden guitars are still there, but the vocals and the melodies have been turned up to POP. And I like that.
31. Nadia Oh – Taking Over The Dancefloor (Kate Middleton)
Novelty record? Maybe. “Fake”? YES INDEED – the absolute definition of it. All knowing, winking, nudging artifice. No depth, no meaning. And most of all, fantastically inauthentic. Nadia Oh was the perfect antidote to the tedious, soul-crushing quest for the meaninglessly meaningful and arse-strainingly “authentic” that seemed to dominate 2011. And for this you have to salute her. More amazing Nadia videos under those words I just wrote. Hard to pick a winner, but this zeigesty Middleton/Moombahton/Anythington referencing gem did it. The real version is 6 minutes long, in case these tease-tastic videos don’t quite do it for you.
And that is that. I got so enthused by Nadia Oh while writing this that I contemplated scrapping the rest of it and making her number 1. I need to go and calm down now.