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Monday, December 29, 2008
TOP UNSIGNED SONGS OF THE YEAR:
5 - Ian Brearley - Goodbye To Yesterday: Former Digital member Ian has been busy this year writing for other people and working with dance producers (he has a dance single out in January everyone!)- however in addition to that he's been churning out his own tunes and Goodbye To Yesterday was a delightful midtempo ballad with a shuffling groove and hook laden chorus...
4 - Dean Lennon - See Through: Former Digital member Dean has been busy this year having the bone structure of a greek god :P In addition to that, he has also been busy creating super ice cool electro-pop tunes like the down and dirty See Through. Combining a striking image with self described super charged neon tracks means that we should be hearing a lot more from Dean this year...
3 - Candy Coated Chaos - Taking Over The World: Jadion produced girl group Candy Coated Chaos have been on my radar for sometime now and just get better with each song they produce. This anthemic dance number acts both as funky Britney-esque edible pop delight, and as prophetic statement about their plans for global domination in 2009...
2 - James Leon - Club With No Name: Purple Heart got all the attention, but it was this sparse 80s inspired ditty that made my aortic muscle go boom. James vocal is rather addictive and the minimal instrumentation works well with it, with a great chorus that just explodes with pop, dance, giddy euphoria and all the potential for pop goodness to come from his debut album... Magnif.
1 - Simon Curtis, Delusional: How I have managed to sit on my fingers until this appeared on his myspace is beyond me. Another mega effort from Simon and his producer Jadion - this gives people a peek into the hit laden Alter Boy, and reveals a sound that progresses naturally from his previous work and moves him firmly into club-pop territory. Heavy beats, take-no-shit lyrics and a fuzzy synth ridden chorus all combined with an impassioned vocal from Simon means this ticks all my boxes. The pop messiah is coming. I don't envy the person who has to choose the final tracklisting for his debut album. PS - check out the amazing Detox, back on his myspace page. Britneytastic.
Top 20 Albums of 2008:
20= - Kylie Minogue, X: It may not be the album everyone wanted but with all the unreleased tracks and b-sides floating around it was perhaps the most do-it-yourself listening experience of the year. Add the gorgeous White Diamond ballad version, Winner Takes It All and Ruffle My Feathers alongside ace tracks like Boombox, All I See, In My Arms, Wow and The One and it's an album that deserved to do a lot better on the charts....
20= - Madonna, Hard Candy: Again another perfect example of a not so perfect album that divided Madonna fans across the blogosphere. As it happened, I quite liked it. Sure there was a bit of crap on there, but all 3 singles have been to my liking and I am fairly partial to The Beat Goes On, Incredible and should-be-a-single-but-won't Devil Wouldn't Recognise You. Hopefully, she will come back with her best work to date. Last time she got divorced, Like A Prayer surfaced and naturally, that is an amazing album...
19 - Tom Baxter, Skybound: A 2007 relic that just kept giving throughout 2008. Yes Boyzone may have plundered Better for themselves, but it's the original version that is fraught with biting emotion. Add to this the theme of growing from boy to man that run throughout the songs, the beautiful ballad Miracle, brilliantly dark Icarus Wings and flamenco laden Tell Her Today and you have an album that is rich with depth, pathos, musical innovation and hauntingly beautiful songs. Seek out now if you have done so already...
18 - Oh Laura, A Song In My Head: Yet another 2007 album. Yikes. But it's SO good. I'm saddened that Oh Laura haven't broken the UK as they should this year. Frida Ohrn's vocals are achingly gorgeous and infuse each song with passion and feeling. Release Me is a yearning ode at it's best while the entirely beautiful Raining In New York makes me tearful everytime I hear it. It's all intricately created so this folky country sound is easy to listen to rather than easy listening...
17 - Annie, Don't Stop: And yet she might stop with the lack of success this perky pop album has gotten in the UK. Which is no success whatsoever. The xenomania pop tune My Love Is Better deserves a top ten placing alongside anything Girls Aloud have produced, while sparse but melody heavy ballad When The Night should have been prominent in this Christmas' top ten. Add to this the bonkers I Can't Let Go and Bad Times and you have an album with something for everyone...
16 - Infernal, Electric Cabaret: More europop adds itself to the list. Let's all give thanks that Infernal stopped releasing "special editions" of From Paris to Berlin (perhaps they felt outdone by Rihanna), and popped out this instant classic. From the lead off single, Downtown Boys to more barmy inventive tracks like Punk Disco, to the sheer pop elegance of I Feel Like Screaming, there was nary a misstep in sight. Now if they could take the time to promote it in England, I'd be quite happy...
15 - Rongedal, Rongedal: Before the quite good indeed Neo (who I will probably be embracing in 2009) got in on the act with his Mika-Scissor Sisters brand of pop, these Right Said Fred lookalikes were at it themselves. Just A Minute is so Mika that you have to check your media player to make sure it isn't. Elsewhere, there are shades of my beloved BWO on Who Do You Think You're Fooling and hints of Roxette on the glorious Hello Euphoria. Like the number two album, it might not be the most original album on this list, but it is certainly a lot of fun :)
14 - McFly, Radio:active: The album I (mass) debated most over it's final placing. Upon release, it was one of my favourites of the year. However, it has been played less and less as the year went on. As much as I wanted it to be a single, I concede that Do Ya did them no favours in terms of expanding their audience, but tracks that remain album classics (but should be singles) like Falling In Love and the amazing Last Song are as accomplished as anything on the excellent Motion In The Ocean cd. Don't write McFly off just yet - embrace them as accomplished tune creators and ignore the teen-bop label. These boys are anything but...
13 - What's Up, What's Up!: To be honest, I expected a lot more love across blogs than this teeny swedish boyband got. Perhaps the world wasn't ready to re-embrace the type of sound that made Backstreet Boys and N*Sync massive in the 90s. Still, max martin and dr luke-esque pop tunes like the popthrashy If I Told You Once and over-14 club thumping Go Girl permeated their debut release alongside the inevitable but still slightly dreamy ballad such as Such A Fool. Hardly original but emminently accessible. I'm so ready to fly over to Sweden and restyle their hideous wardrobe choices though :(
11= - Shayne Ward, Breathless: Ridiculously boffable? Check! X Factor winner with most singles sold in a single week (take that Leona and Alexblandra!)? Check! 'Sophomore' album with multiple top ten hits from it? Er, no... and god knows why! There were so many tracks on this album that deserved more exposure, but the powers that be decided that two top ten hits were enough for young Shayne. So no gorgeous Melt The Snow soundtracking our winters, no classy pop nuggets like Damaged or Tears Never Dry, not even the luscious cover of Just Be Good To Me. Perhaps his third album will give him the shot of chart domination that he totally deserves...
11= - Blake Lewis, ADD: Ridiculously boffable? Check! Best American Idol runner up ever? Check! Debut album with multiple top ten hits from it? Er, no...and god knows why! Anyone else getting deja vu?! Perhaps the lead off single wasn't the wizest choice, but certainly there were plenty of picks that could've been had for follow ups - the ritzy Gots To Get Her, gorgeous How Many Words, smooth as silk End Of The World, maroon 5-ish Hate 2 Love Her... need I go on? Blake is infintely a better fit within the European pop charts, and his recent forays into dance collaboration only underline his need to come over here right now...
10 - Keane - Perfect Symmetry: Sure, the singles may well be the standout tracks of this triumphant return to form, and sure when you have to return to form when you are only 3 albums old raises some questions, but for me this album was the follow up to Hopes and Fears that I had been waiting for. While Spiralling made the nation sit up and go "oh keane are quite good again", the title track launched the band back into epic stadium singalongs with a near perfect middle 8 bridging the songs construction. There are layers and textures in most of the songs to varying degrees of success, none more so than in the lovely Playing Along which surely needs to be a single after Bowie-esque Better Than This.09 - Darin - Flashback: Darin has the type of output and career that Gareth Gates should've modelled himself on instead of getting all hoity toity about writing his own songs. Breathing Your Love was an amazing club track that was only the tip of the surface of great tracks that filled his fourth album. Seasons Fly is a gentle shuffling track while Dance is a great singalong track that demands a slick and cool dance routine. It's all very inline with the type of music Simon Curtis is producing so I'm bound to love it. I'm voting for Roadtrip as the second single by the way. Mega!
08 - Jason Mraz - We Dance We Sing We Steal Things: I've always been partial to the meandering musings of Mr Mraz. Whether it be the college dorm styled debut album, the more pop chart ready second set (with criminally overlooked tunes such as Life is Wonderful and Geek In The Pink) or any of his laxidaisical cover versions (Rainbow Connection is gorgeous). This album is perhaps his most organic to date and not only features the soundtrack-to-my-wedding I'm Yours in fully produced format (not really sounding drastically different to the 2 year old demo then) as well as the makes-Colbie-bearable duet Lucky and life affirming Life Is Wonderful. Always the clever wordsmith, Mr A-Z has a rather genius knack for lingering melodies and catchy hooks - and it's those that make this album a sheer delight...
07 - The Soundtrack to Britannia High: Sigh. The ratings were apparently in the toilet (though lets put this in perspective - it was on at the wrong time, it should've aired prior to the X Factor; it still got more viewers than Gossip Girl gets in the States) and it didn't find it's footing til about halfway through the series, but the soundtrack was packed with joyous if somewhat cheesy delights! Why it didn't strike me until the last episode that the 6 main stars could be the new s club/xyp/liberty x I don't know. Start of Something outhappied Same Difference, while there were more cool cuts from tracks like Watch This Space, Picking Up The Pieces and the sublime cover of Body to Body (showcasing my two fave characters in the vid above). There were also some nice ballads in the form of Growing Pains, Do It All Over Again and anthemic Proud. And don't forget the Reach in the making, Wake Up. Brillo. Pad.
06 - The Killers - Day and Age: Well I finally stopped calling it Day and Night, so that's a start. The Killers are one of my favourite new bands of the millenium, so I was all aboard for Sam's Town and i'm enjoying their third release even more. I still think Human is the best thing they have done since the blow the stadium roof off amazingosity of All These Things I've Done and Spaceman is a worthy follow up single, totally catchy and a little bit Mr Brightside too for those yearning for more Hot Fuss. B-Flo and his posse have a gift for creating anthemic tunes that out U2 U2 and will endure for years to come. There are several more on this album including the surprisingly eclectic Joyride and the gradual but inevitable crescendo of another must be a single, Dustland Fairytale. Not many bands change musical styles so frequently, but The Killers manage to pull it off time and again.
05 - William Young - Let It Go: What I admire about Britain's original and only enduring pop idol is his consistent refusal to succumb to musical trends and just create music that transcends time and genres. His fourth album is another creative triumph for the young man. Bloggers quite rightly lapped up the early leak of the title track which was one of the year's most bittersweet songs, and singles Grace and Changes didn't set the charts on fire, but were filled with an elegance and uh, grace that many pop contemporaries lack. Sadly the disco album that was promised didn't quite appear but there is enough fizzypop in here to keep people satisfied in the form of Love and the brilliance of I Wont Give Up. It's freemason's tastic and perhaps, just perhaps might restore William's chart fortunes to their once lofty highs...
04 - Girls Aloud - Out Of Control: I love it when acts reach a new satisfying peak so far into their careers. The Girls fifth album is a startling treat from start to finish. Of course, I'm partial to my song of the year The Promise (with a fade here that works well with the fading lyrics), and everyone adores their PSB collaboration and epic tragi-disco number Untouchable with it's classic robots dancing alone lyrics. Rolling Back The Rivers is perhaps their finest 80s inspired track yet and there are plenty of funky pop numbers like Love Is The Key and Fix Me Up. It doesn't bode well for future singles releases that the Girls are taking a couple of months off after Loving Kind, then they will be busy with the tour and then Cheryl will tragically and unfairly be back on the x factor. Oh well, enjoy it while you can, i have a horrible feeling it won't last much longer :(
03 - Take That - The Circus: Ignore the hype surrounding the other Circus, those seats are half price compared to this stirling effort from the comeback kids. This is indeed another triumph for Take That - great songs, wonderfully sung, beautifully produced, and, as i've said many times before, a real cohesive collaborative effort of tunes. Jam packed with more singles than Rihanna could shake a stick at, this is the album that will keep on giving until this time next year. And if Up All Night isn't the second single, I will weep into my pillow for many days...
02 - Same Difference - Pop: And pop they were. Shockingly not my number one album of the year, and certainly not the best album of the year, but definitely the most fun and perhaps the most logical progression of this type of music since Steps ended in 2001. A lot of these albums on my list go back to times when i was utterly enamoured of pop music, and while i'm somewhat adrift from the rest of the blogworld in terms of what i consistently like, it's usually always fun and makes me smile and I make no apologies for that :) The album is an absolute corker - not only are there covers of europop classics like I Need A House, Let Me Be The One and Still Amazed, but "loving tributes" to pop classics such as We R One (Breaking Free), If You Can't Dance (I don't Feel Like Dancing), All Roads Lead To Heaven (Skeletons), Better Love Me (Its The Way You Make Me Feel) and of course Turn It Into Love (Turn It Into Love :P). Plus any album that features a cover of Nothing's Gonna Stop Us is ok by me. Yes they may well be doing kids partys this time next year, but the album hasn't quite plummeted as fast as I thought (it's 43 four weeks after debuting at 22 so there must be a consistent fanbase out there) so there may well be hope yet :)
Album of the year - The Feeling's Join With Us: Britain abandoned the most consistent and accomplished songsmiths this side of Take That. The album was packed full of radio friendly hits, yet radio wasn't calling anymore. And you know that the feeling love it when they call. Sigh. From the disco leanings of I Thought It Was Over (the album's only top ten hit) to the wistful Without You and everything but the kitchen sink pop of Join With Us, they barely steered me wrong. Even their complementary cacophany of b-sides and covers were worthy of addition to this catalogue of classics. There is a third album in the offing, and they are still quite the draw live so they may well pull it all back together. Time will tell, but no doubt i'll be slavishly watching....
Other songs that just missed my top twenty five songs of the year ~ Leona Lewis, Run; Alesha Dixon - Boy Does Nothing; Darin - Breathing Your Love; The Feeling - Without You; Rongedal - Just A Minute; Sergey - Flyer; Girls Aloud - Je Parle Pas Francais; Chris Brown - Forever; Jordin Sparks - Tattoo; Chris and Jordin - No Air; Simon Curtis - Another Heartache; Britney - Womaniser; Alanis - Underneath; Bryn Christopher - The Quest
- Check out John's top pop of the year
- Mike's poptrashtic albums of the year are here (we are alarmingly out of sync, though i love his choices!)
- DanUK's ace choices for album of the year
- Yuri and I share some fave albums - check that out here
- Fabtastic best songs of 2008
- Adem's albums
- XO's best album covers for the year
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