Tuesday 15 March 2011

The Brilliantly Odd Future Of Music




I have garnered a reputation over the last few years as fan of indie music, which is perfectly understandable and correct. I love indie; there is no question about that. But what people don’t really remember is that I used to be a big fan of hip hop. I loved Tupac, Eminem, 50 all the mainstream rappers that most 13 year olds loved. I even got into BIG and Public Enemy, who were big back when rap was an underground hit.

There are a few reasons why I suppose I became infatuated with indie music and distanced from hip hop. I had a new group of friends who were all into that indie/ rock music and I naturally followed suit and loved it. There was the fact that Eminem as well as various other rappers experienced dips in their careers, some more so than others (except for Tupac, he kinda died.....) but whilst 50 was making awful films and Eminem was getting fat and lame, Indie was on the rise.

After rap became the big thing with rappers like Kanye West and Lil Wayne selling millions of records across the world, it became un-cool. The underground, rallying rap cries seemed to be lost in search of this global acclaim and rap music seemed to be forever lost in a gaping hole where genuinely shocking, funny and hard hitting rap was to forever be trying to claw its way out.



That is until now. Hip hop has risen, in the unlikely form of 12 teenage skaters from LA. Formed in 2007, when all of them were sweet 16, Odd Future (full name Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All) were rapping about things that were not so sweet, and putting their names across a world wide web of blogs all over the globe. Their crude but often darkly funny raps are both shocking and meaningful, in the style of early Eminem before them. Their leader Tyler, The Creator, has already released a solo album (Bastard) as well as another album which is being released at some point next month on XL Recordings as well as most of their members releasing solo material as well, giving away all of their material for free on their blog.


It wasn’t until the end of January though, that Odd Future truly caused a stir and people realised just how important they are becoming. Their late night performance on the Jimmy Fallon show was stuff of legends which isn’t bad considering it was their first television show. Even Mos Def called them SWAG.



Then Tyler released his solo masterpiece Yonkers. Filmed in black and white with the camera eerily focusing in and out in time with the music, Tyler’s dark lyrical theme and schizophrenic delivery (“I’m a fucking walking paradox/no I’m not) meshed both a psychopath and a genuine menace into 3 minutes of brilliant rap where he references not only the Flintstones but also Bruno Mars and the infamous Columbine mass killings. Whilst all this is happening he eats a bug, throws up and hangs himself. It’s a pretty intense few minutes. It’s certainly got a lot of attention as well, this video has had 3 million views since being added to YouTube just a month ago, and proving there is still a massive audience for underground rap.



We then have Earl Sweatshirt, who still at the tender age of 17 is Odd Future’s most deranged member, rapping about everything and anything that would make many upper class ladies faint in disbelief at just what is coming out of his mouth. Now though, rumour has it that Earl’s mum has sent him to boarding school and his promising rap career looks to be halted for an indefinite period of time. Not your average problem for a rap crew but nonetheless a pretty devastating prospect.

What is interesting about Odd Future is their message, if they have one. Is it a satire on the media outrage that teenagers are violent hooligans? Is it a genuine statement of discontent and angst in youth culture? Or are they just plain just fucking with us. What we do know is that if they carry on the way their going, re-inventing underground rap a bringing it back into the masses, the future most certainly looks to be an Odd one.


Tuesday 1 March 2011

Radiohead: Reinvention or Repeat?


After what seemed like many long, musically inadequate days of having no music to really look forward to, I was starting to despair. There were bands I really liked, but everything seemed too samey (bar of course from The Suburbs and a couple of others.) In the meantime, indie & therefore in a sense rock music seemed to have almost died out. Then, on Valentine’s Day, I awoke without love in mind, but finding a very different, almost lost love of mine rekindled. The love (almost strictly plutonic) of Radiohead had instated itself back into my life with the best news possible. A new Radiohead album was finished. Not only this, but it was being released on that very Saturday (later changed to Friday.)

I was shocked, but as far as shocks come, this was definitely one of the best I have ever experienced in my life. After the shock came a sudden explosion of joy and after the joy came an immediate realisation. I, as well as everyone else, knew NOTHING about the new album. All we knew was the album title and artwork but aside from that, we knew absolutely zilch.

So, not only was everyone ultra excited at the prospect of a new Radiohead album, we were all bursting with anticipation as to what it would sound like. Now, in a month where Lady Gaga and The Strokes had released new material, each greatly anticipated by their own loyal fanbases, they were left almost i the dust by the ambiguous super powerful musical force that was crash landing in our own midst. This I felt, was the start of a new musical era.

By my own humble search for clues about the new album which I searched for roughly the day it was expected to launch, I stumbled upon a ‘first review’ of the album by the Guardian. Intrigued, I read on, only to find the most aggravating, stupid & pointless review I’d ever read. Not only had the reviewer only listened to the album once, they immediately cast it down for not reinventing music again. What the actual fuck! How can people keep expecting Radiohead to constantly create an Ok Computer for every genre possible? It’s absolutely absurd. AND, how can you tell after ONE listen, whether it's a reinvention? For one thing, Ok Computer has been voted in countless best albums lists as the best album of the last 25 years. Not only this but after Kid A, In Rainbows AND The Bends, all brilliant albums in their own right, they are immediately scorned for not doing so again. It’s a ridiculous presumption. Ok yes, I can understand that Radiohead, in the past, have kinda had this expectation self imposed just by creating so many amazing albums, it’s sad that people cannot appreciate it for what it is : a brilliant album. The fact that it’s not as revolutionary as others should not be a negative factor.


In my own opinion, after having acquired the album through a legal download (I know weird!) I found the listed reaction to be utter nonsense.
The King Of Limbs is a great, different album. It’s moved along with the times, it’s changed completely compared with In Rainbows and the fact that they have pretty much abandoned guitars on the record is an amazingly ambitious and brave move. The songs echo almost the post dubstep era of James Blake and co, with Give Up The Ghost hauntingly minimal throughout, whereas Lotus Flower is out and out groove in the style of Idioteque but with more lyrical meaning. It seems that they’ve take everything that’s made all of their previous albums great and rolled it into one brilliant album. Ok, it isn’t as good as Ok Computer but that’s hardly a criticism considering its legacy and accolades. If there is a bad word to be said about the album however, is that at 8 songs long, it’s almost not enough. On saying this, there are however mutterings of another album that’s already been finished which would obscure the above comment, though nothing has been confirmed yet.



What else is remarkable about Radiohead is that with constantly reinventing their music, they are now rejuvenating record sales as well. The rush announcement and digital download seems to have found a way of tackling the downloading situation of an album leak, by making it available a few months before the physical copy is released, something that everyone is so used to in the current musical climate.

So to summarise, not only have Radiohead made another excellent albums, where they hae once again changed the direction of the music they make, they are kick starting the faulting music industry. Two amazing feats conquered in a week, leaving the Guardian journalist with a fucking ostrich sized egg on his face. Here’s to Radiohead, the saviours of music and the all around kings of musical reinvention.

Monday 14 February 2011

1. Gorillaz - Stylo



Here we have the number one song of 2010. The most complete, catchy song that was made in the whole entirety of the year, and it is Gorillaz first single off their career best third album, ‘Plastic Beach.’ Fairly anticipated due to both the five year gap in between this album and their last and also the huge success they enjoyed with Feel Good Inc and Dare, this song came much as a surprise to fans. It wasn’t as catchy as the old stuff and it didn’t really have a chorus of sorts. From the opening riff and hip hop beat, it wasn’t so much a rap song as it was a whole new level of pop. I know it sounds crazy, but with this song, Gorillaz elevated the pop standard, creating a whole new boundary for musicians by combining everything that has been embodied in current pop music into one, showing it’s possible to create a song that embodies almost all genre’s but yet they make it work so perfectly, its utterly jaw dropping. From Mos Def’s opening rap, to Bobby Womack’s completely impromptu and unscripted chorus it brings together nearly fifty years of music into one song, whilst keeping it fresh and modern as if we’d never heard anything like it before.

The talent and bravery of Damon Albarn to completely abandon everything that’s made him what he is and to keep re-inventing himself is something that’s almost superhuman, showing that 10 years down the line, Blur are better than Oasis so to speak. But this isn’t about them, it’s about Gorillaz, and how 10 years into their career, this ‘cartoon’ album has released the most complete and utterly 3 dimensional song in such a long time. So here’s to Gorillaz and let’s hope that the next year brings out some more breathtaking and spellbinding tunes, they have a lot to live up to.

Thanks for reading.

2. Foals - Spanish Sahara



I talked in an earlier blog post about how Foal’s were the unexpected saviours of the indie movement. How they were talked up before they released anything from the new album, saying it was a brilliant and unexpected change. No-one really believed it until they heard it. This is a truly stunning 7 minute epic, which starts of so tenderly, with Yanis Phillapakis showing a falsetto that many of us thought he couldn’t have, after the main shouting with which Foals made their career. It both stunned people and brought them together in a truly unique moment that’s rarely ever captured, silence on the radio.


Inspired by a dead dog he saw floating in a river, they set out to create this epic, not only expelling everything they’ve done since in a way that only a few have before them. The song builds and builds for 4 minutes, building complete tension with the listener before releasing the explosion of utter euphoria for the last 3 minute which is reached with the refrain of’ I’m the fury in your head/I’m the fury in your bed/I’m the ghost in the back of your head,’ where the song whirls around you, like a temperamental ghost in a bad dream, refusing to let you it’s spell until you wake up in the middle of the night to the chilling ending synth sounds at the end and you realise, it’s just a dream, but one you won’t forget in a hurry. So here’s to Foals, creating something that is truly memorable, from the most unlikely of sources. Completely unforgettable.

3. Hurts - Wonderful Life



This song, was all that was evident of hurts existence until mid way through last year. A bleak, low quality video of the band standing still singing this song garnered enough attention that they created a career out it. This song alone launched their career into mainstream pop and that’s why it’s so important. It tells the tale of a suicidal man, getting ready to end his life when he is stopped by a woman who falls instantly in love with him. It’s pretty soppy romantic stuff but I can’t help but think it’s a brilliantly told story, both completely bleak but gloriously triumphant at the same time, showing you how the power of love, so to speak in the least pathetic of terms can change things for someone so massively. ‘Don’t let go/Never give up its such a wonderful life’ is not only one of the years catchiest chorus’s but one of the most heartbreaking, it comes from the depth of the heart, knowing that if this line doesn’t work then the man will surely kill himself. It rolls a 2 hour Hollywood film into a 4 minute song, creating the same emotion and intensity in a much shorter time period. Not only are Hurts brilliant song writers, they are brilliant story tellers, and songs that tell stories are always that much harder to create. Not only have they done this, but they’ve made it so amazingly catchy that they thoroughly deserve the attention they have received across the globe. Love them or hate them, this song is so good it hurts.

4. Arcade Fire - Ready To Start



After their triumphant best album win at the Grammy’s last night, which was probably one of the biggest shocks in the history of the event, Arcade Fire have now officially conquered the world of music, and what a relief they have. Not only did it open the part of the music loving world that had been living under a giant Lady GaGa shaped rock for the last few years but it re-installed my faith in the music industry as a whole. The first American single from “The Suburbs,” ‘Ready To Start’ was stomp rock which shows another level of depth in the album, adding the darkness that was so familiar in Neon Bible and was the first glimmer of synths which is something as yet unseen from them. The theme of the record, which is essentially exploring both the dullness and boredom of teenage suburban life whilst at the same time realising how much it’s missed when you return to find nothing left of it, split into two parts, with Ready To Start incorporating the former.



It screams teenage angst all the way through the chorus rallying ‘now i’m ready to start’ is a sign that their ready to forget their past and move on in a more exciting place, in life, which, coming from a suburban area myself, I find especially true. The way the song holds you in its grasp throughout, moving your feet and probing your mind at the same time is what makes it so incredible, with the thumping bassline where the song crashes in on you, to the Depeche Mode synths at the end where the song breaks down almost entirely, every part of it is SO AWESOME! The lyrical delivery of the song adds what is really the main catchy of the song, which is not only brilliantly singable, but poignant and thoughtful, my favourite lines ‘all the kids have always known/that the emperor wears no clothes/but they bow down to him anyway/cos it’s better than being alone’ is the typical playground scene where the biggest kid is idolised though he’s basically an idea and the forcefulness of having to go along with what he wants or facing isolation that so many people have felt. The catchiest, and deepest song on the album, will constantly be a fan favourite for many years to come, and that fan base will undoubtedly grow thankfully, for many years to come.

5. Cee Lo Green - Fuck You




Who would of thought that a song with the word “fuck” in the title would ever get to number one? Ok, so they changed it so that it said Forget you, but who is honestly going to remember that when the album version is so much more playful, and meaningful? Exactly, with this year’s most unlikely number one hit, Cee-Lo Green has now asserted himself on the main stage of pop once again after hitting number one with Gnarls Barkley’s awesomely cool and catchy hit “Crazy.” Here however, his soulful voice is best expressed in a mo-town style, which just reeks 50’s hit from the off. It’s unashamedly frank and here the confidence of the man to say what we all think in a catchy little number deserves applause, displaying himself comically where he pretty much cries the last verse of the song like a baby but he now knows how much better he is without her. This is undoubtedly perfect song for the single guy on Valentine’s Day.

Thursday 10 February 2011

6. The Black Keys - Tighten Up



Well there’s been a lot of blues news in both sense of the word in recently. From the saddening news that rock n roll icons the white stripes are breaking up, to the joyous findings that the black keys have been nominated for a grammy. It’s refreshing to see that a band that lived in relative obscurity (somehow) has come to fruition and it is more than fully deserved. The lead single of their 5th LP, Tighten Up is the baddest, coolest blues song in a long while. From the opening bars of instant catchy whistling through to the gut moving guitar solos this song really does have it all. Dan Auerbach, voice is so smooth and gruff at the same time it’s like someone’s massaging his throat whilst he smoked 40 cigarettes at the same time. Though there are only two of them, the amount of noise and sounds they throw in not only on this song, but on the whole album is quite incredible and there can be no qualms thrown up as to who are the rightful rulers of the blues scene now.

7. Yeasayer - Ambling Alp



Yeasayer truly have had a phenomenal year. From oddball indie outsiders to pop princes, its all thanks to this landmark single and one that repeated round and round my ears and ipod especially during the early part of last year. The thudding tribal drums, the absolutely arse kicking bass solo at the end (WHAT THE FUCK A BASS SOLO!!) what isn’t there to love about this track. The way the song is delivered, in an agony aunt sort of tone “stick up for yourself son/never mind what anybody else done” is refreshing and totally aimed to be sung at the top of your lungs whether in your car home or in a crowded room, the band that soundtracked many a summer have definitely made an in print in the last year and hopefully will do for many more years to come. The video is a bit strange mind...

8. Twin Shadow - Slow



Twin Shadow is the Brooklynite who seems to have sprouted out of nowhere and is capturing the new 80’s movement’s hearts with every synthy step he duly takes. The lead single and the song that catapulted him into the eye of the public, slow is the best song not only on the album, but possible the best song to come out of the rejuvenated 80’s movement. The somewhat spacey beat that he creates sounds so otherworldly it seems like he’s singing it from another universe, with his voice soaring from the clouds while the guitars and synths fly around him creating something truly epic. The refrain of the chorus is also so fragile, adding lyrics worthy of the loneliness that Morrissey would feel ‘I don’t wanna be/believe in love’ whilst the delivery is so heartbreakingly convincing that even Jason Statham would have to squeeze a dagger shaped tear out of his stone eyes. A true calling to that sound of the 80’s which has never truly been done justice, until now.

Wednesday 9 February 2011

9. Count & Sinden Feat Mystery Jets - After Dark



I was aimlessly browsing the endless stream of music channels on television one night, when I happened to stumble across this song. Wondering who the other guys in the video were I was intrigued to find out more. Needless to say I’m glad I did. This most definitely soundtrack many a party, night out and long car journey throughout the country. Brilliantly, it never really loses a sense of being a mystery jets song so to speak, it feels as though it would be perfectly comfortable on their new album which is an achievement to count and sinden, who never pull mystery jets out of their comfort zone. The song itself echoes the themes of many mystery jets songs which is again, adolescent love but with a theme of maturity “we’ve never had a heart to heart but you still call me up after dark’ is the unforgettable chorus which rings so true for many teenagers. The beat itself crosses a Caribbean feeling, crossing the familiar mystery jets song with that of a softer friendly fires sound. It couldn’t have been anything but a hit.

10. Two Door Cinema Club - Something Good Can Work



I must say now, I am not Two Door Cinema’s biggest fan. There’s something about them that for some reason, I always resort back to the Kaiser Chiefs. I don’t know why, but they kind of give off that sense of na na na na na, if you know what I mean. Anyway, that’s not to say that I think everything they’ve done is awful, proof being of this song’s entry into the top 10 of my countdown. This is a great summer anthem. Short, sweet and almost euphoric in itself, with a wonderful vocal rhythm, this makes it almost impossible not to sing along, no matter how much you don’t want to. It’s a song that gives TDCC a inkling of hope in my eyes, that they could grace a higher range of popularity, especially giving their roof raising performance at Reading festival this year which had the crowd screaming for them before they’d even set foot on stage and that is a sense of popularity which doesn’t hang around Hard Fi or the Kaiser Chiefs.

Monday 7 February 2011

11. Mystery Jets - Show Me The Light




Serotonin is most definitely Mystery Jets most complete album. The level of maturity that has surrounded their still irresistible melodies of adolescence means that critical praise and a bigger fanbase came hand in hand for the Londoners. The 3rd single from their new album, ‘Show Me The Light’ practically screams 80’s pop at you from the open synth notes, and nails the sound to the ground throughout. This however, unlike most other Mystery Jets classics, seems to be aimed not specifically at the dance floor but for the calm, easy listeners as well. Drenched in vocal harmonies throughout that rival even Fleet Foxes in their beauty show that Mystery Jets truly are a multi talented band that are capable of changing their sound and look effortlessly comfortable doing it. This is their big step forward, a step that all knowingly will snowball continuously with everything they continue to release hereafter.

12. Plan B - Prayin





Plan B has made the transformation of the year. From potty mouthed little hell raiser to smartly clad soul man, his change is both remarkable and impressive. His concept album “The Defamation Of Strickland Banks” about the struggles of a innocent man put in prison and his attempts to survive on the inside was one of the year’s best, his falsetto croon wooing all that it listened so open mouthed in the disbelief that yes, this is the same Plan B who rapped so candidly about having sex with 14 year old girls. Prayin is the songs centrepiece, where he sings about himself in the grip of prison, proving himself as one of the harder prison men, where he inadvertedly kills a fellow convict only to be ‘rescued’ by another fellow in-mate who agrees to take the blame. Plan B still uses his words so well, describing his saviour as an ‘angel of a man,’ singing so emotively, knowing that what he’s done is so utterly wrong that he is looking for a miracle. It’s so Hollywood it hurts and there were hardly any raised eyebrows when it was revealed that he was making a film based on the album. He raises the roof like he’s never done before destroying party floors with drunken teenagers screaming and slurring the words across the country. Whether they remembered it or not when they were singing it the night before is another matter, but what we do know for sure is that there is certainly no turning back for one of the most exciting new talents to emerge from the depths of obscurity. Plan B, I salute you sir.

13. LCD Soundsystem - I Can Change





LCD Soundsytem are a somewhat of a unique musical beast. Everything about them shouldn’t work, but they do and thank God that this is the case. They have made us laugh, cry and dance our fucking arses off but here they are unfortunately making us cry. As you may or may not know, lead singer James Murphy divorced from his wife during the making of this third album after his wife tragically had a miscarriage (as written about brilliantly on Sound Of Silver's single Someone Great) and on this song as well as other moments in the album is a heartbroken ode to his beloved. I Can Change is more or less Murphy’s plead for her back telling her that “I Can Change/If it helps you fall in love.” Murphy is on top lyrical form once again etching out the post break up feelings of so many and the hardness that this time obviously had on his life. “Tell me a line/Make it easy for me/ Open your arms/Dance with me until I feel alright” The ability that LCD Soundsystem have of changing our mood as well as their own so frequently is so utterly spellbinding that you feel the whole journey with them, and hear, on the most personal of sentiments we feel so wrapped in his own life that we feel his pain first hand and we want to hold him and reassure that it’s going to be fine. The most personal song on the album and I think they deserve a round of applause for baring their souls so openly in front of us and creating a moment of sheer brilliance.


14. Chapel Club - All The Eastern Girls





As I basically said earlier, I really like Chapel Club. I am indeed very excited for their album that was released a couple of days ago. All The Eastern Girls, is a sky scraping epic that looks set to propel them to the top of many people’s bands to watch in the upcoming months, Lewis Bowman once again displays beautiful lyrical sentiments “ All the eastern girls/Are like stars as the night sharpens.” The song starts off hinting at the astronomical ambitions that this band clearly hope to achieve with crashing drums and siren like guitars before completely changing the mood to a star struck love song which sounds almost like a confessional. The tempo of the song continuously shifts and changes like a rollercoaster ride and finally explodes into life for the final minute or so when the band transform into a towering beast of an ensemble and creating a wonderfully powerful, atmospheric noise that feels like its destined to be echoed out of arenas across the country. It’s all of this but still beautifully heartfelt, something that is exceedingly hard to do and Chapel Club has managed this with such ease that it’s astounding that they are still to release an LP. Editors and Interpol have stepped down as the dark Kings of rock and Chapel Club will most certainly be clambering onto the throne for all to hear.

15. Delphic - Counterpoint




Counterpoint is the song that launched Delphic’s career at nearly break neck speed forwards and put them in and amongst the big indie dance slappers. Counterpoint is a near 7 minute long dance trip filled monumental synths that sounds like they’ve been plucked from the very top branch on the Indie Dance tree. This combined with a mountain shouting chorus “Tell me nothing’s wrong today.” It’s dance music with intelligence, like LCD Soundsystem’s slightly dorky, more serious younger brother, perfectly crafted to fill radio airwaves and dance-floors alike. Counterpoint gradually keeps you interested with its vocal distantly sounding like their coming from the room next whilst the synths sound like almost spacey, like stardust falling (I know slightly lame...)before exploding into the final couple of minutes of euphoric, out and out brilliance that almost lifts you off the floor with its sheer intensity. A truly great dance song.

16. Foals - Total Life Forever




For many, Foals had been written off as a run of the mill Indie pop group, mindlessly singing songs about Balloons and running across the stage like an actor with his hair on fire. They certainly aren’t the most charming of bands as many will agree. But there was something different about them, something that made us interested and excited for where they would go to next. Maybe it was the fact that they were all from Oxford like a certain other famous rock band and at that, Oxford University drop outs, or maybe it was the fact that we were generally lost in search of a indie band that could pull us out of the slump at the start of the year and we clung onto Foals hoping they’d see us through. We were right. Their second album was one of the year’s best and the title track was a fantastic mix of afro- Caribbean fuelled dance and experimentation. The irresistible beat glittered with sprinklings of different guitars, keyboards and a funky bass line made this an immediate summer hit at festivals and sweaty summer parties alike. Even better live.

17. Hurts - Sunday





Hurts have been split into a sort of marmite like existence, with people loving and hating them equally, I for one love them and seeing them live was a fantastic mix of a gig and a stage show which was something that I’ve never seen before and thoroughly enjoyed. Though their album didn’t quite live up to expectations all the way through, Hurts showed how good they were at producing brilliantly composed pop songs. Their future single, Sunday is Hurts on top form, yes its unnecessarily dramatic and soppy but lead singer Theo Hutchcraft’s ace vocal croon and a chorus the same size and power of Valuev’s fist, it’s impossible not to sing along. First the uber cool clubs of underground Germany, then the parent friendly music area that it Magic FM, where will they conquer next? You can’t escape them, and this isn’t by any means a bad thing.

18. Big Boi - Shutterbug




Big Boi has released a solo album! The arguably more talented member of Outkast has stopped the constant pleading of his fans to release a new record with Andre 3000 with this awesome track which is possibly this year’s best rap song. Big Boi immediately asserts his authority by laying down a seriously catchy, bad-ass groove which is so much more instantly attention grabbing than anything that I have heard from this genre in such a long time. It’s back to basics rap, it’s pretty much just Big Boi laying down some sick raps, but with the obvious influence of the modern music, therefore cleverly creating a bridge between old and new rap. The likes of Tinchy and Tinie have met their match in a true heavyweight of rap, Big Boi and they better watch their backs.


19. Arcade Fire - Rococo





This is Arcade Fire’s second appearance in my countdown and, by all accounts, a fully deserved one. Rococo is a powerful synth tinged rock anthem which comments on the new found pretentiousness of the hipster culture “They will eat right out of your hand/using great big words that they don’t understand” brilliant combined with the title which is a reference to 18th Century Art Houses. Its tone is extremely dark, starting sinisterly with an acoustic guitar and Win voices echoing down on the audience like a hated headmaster before exploding into its stomping chorus with its stomach turning synth lines and screeching electric guitars where the chorus is chanted over and over like a tribal ritual. Rococo is a nod to their previous record (and what a fine one it was!) but also a grand step forward in their career and a sure fire favourite for many years to come.

A little apology





Well, there's not much I can say by my own admition for not doing my blog other than

1. I have had a handful of deadlines recently
2. I am semi-retarded (this one applies predominately)

I do wanna finish this list though, due to already starting as I left it so anticlimatically in the middle of the list and the fact that I did genuinely enjoy writing this blog. So do read on if you like, I can understand if you don't want to any more as it isn't 2010 but if you do, than that's cool to and i'd like to thank you in advance for putting up with my absolute inability to follow up on what I started.

So, without further adure, here are the Top 20 songs of 2010.