Music Up Above

It’s not yet time to loosen your tie or knock back the final drops of bubbly. We’re not quite done yet. For those with nothing better to do, those with a limited attention span or those who simply like a decent tune here are the songs that had me clicking the repeat button this year.  

11. Beck – Timebomb

Just where this came from I don’t know but it has got to be one of the year’s best kept secrets. Built to be played loud. Very!

We’re going sideways
Highways
Riding on an elevator
Cold just like an alligator

10. Spoon – Rhthm and Soul

 My favourite track from this great album. It’s as catchy as hell – a total joy of guitar pop rock. You got to sing along at the top of your lungs. This is clearly better done in private, which is something I have only recently learned to my utter embarrassment.

Remember, the winter, gets cold in ways you always forget

9. The Sounds – Tony The Beat

Anyone who dares think that Rihanna had the best pop song of the year had better given this a listen. Quickly now, there’s no time to waste.  Tony the Beat is ridiculously good – you won’t want to stop listening.

Hey, let’s kick it .Stop, just lick it
let you start it – ’cause ’cause it’s so easy
you like it my way, and I know it
so let’s do it  – do it do it real good

8. Bjork – Earth Intruders

Such filthy rhythms should almost be illegal. She’s not let us down with this year’s offering. It was a toss up between this and the wonderful Wanderlust. This won for that freakin’ rhythm.

I have guided my bones through some voltage
And love them still
And love them too

7. The White Stripes – Icky Thump

Definitely the best named single of the year. It’s also the song I yearned to hear on my many nights out in The Netherlands listening to both the good and the bad that the pubs and clubs have to offer. Never once did it come on. What I’d give for an Icky Thump was fast becoming my motto. I love it that they are so popular (at least in some countries)  and that they still make such good singles. Plus a million extra bonus points for the below lyrics.

white Americans, what?
nothing better to do?
why don’t you kick yourself out
you’re an immigrant too. who’s using who? what should we do?
well, you can’t be a pimp
and a prostitute too.

6. CocoRosie – Animals

Dirty, gooey, bitter-sweet brilliance and an infectious beat to rival Bjork’s. If you’re sick of going around the merry-go-round of usual sounds, jump off and stick this on your stereo. Delightfully quirky – a real gem.

Like memories of porno and tearstains
and tobacco Oh, its a miny disastro

5. Marketa Irglova and Glen Hansard – If you Want me

Probably the most stunning scene from the movie Once. The gloriously simple image of Marketa walking back home from the shop, in her slippers listening on her discman and singing along. Stunning! Best song from the soundtrack too in my opinion. Just utterly delightful. I’ve played it hundreds and hundreds of times and still adore it.

When I get really lonely and the distance causes only silence
I think of you smiling, with pride in your eyes, a lover that sighs

4. Rufus Wainwright – Between my Legs

If only he could make songs as good as this all the time. My problem with Rufus has always been that I only like three or four songs on each of his albums but the ones I do like I really love and this is as good as it gets. For me the unquestionable highlight from Release the Stars. It’s as great and theatrical and bombastic as the man himself – in the best way of course!

Again, I’m afraid of one thing,
Will I walk away from love knowing nothing, wearing my heart between my legs?

3. Robert Plant and Alison Krauss – Sister Rosetta Goes Before us

Written by Sam Phillips this song is delicate and soaring. The finest point on the Raising Sand album and one of the most perfect songs I have heard in years. It has grabbed me and made me stop what I was doing on countless times upon hearing it. Gently wonderful.

Strange things are happening everyday
I hear the music up above my head
Though the side of my heart has left me again
I hear music up above

2. DeVotchKa – How it Ends

This is simply one of the greatest songs I’ve ever heard. If you were to listen to this without the lyrics you would probably feel a sense of yearning, sadness, perhaps a lack of hope, but not completely lost? With the words, your feelings would likely be proven right. Although it’s not entirely clear what exactly the singer is singing about (death?, God?) the feeling is clear. It’s surely one of the most emotive songs I’ve ever heard. And that is really saying something. 

Hold your grandmother’s bible to your breast
Gonna put it to the test
You wanted it to be blessed
And in your heart
You know it to be true
You know what you gotta do
They all depend on you

1. Andrew Bird – Imitosis

The word juggler at his finest. This is such a fun burst of music I can’t help but laugh and sing along – each and every time. I can never keep up and constantly trip over words that seem to be strewn here and there. It’s fabulously clever – both musically and lyrically. Mr Bird is a genius.

We were all basically alone
And despite what all his studies had shown
That what’s mistaken for closeness
Is just a case of mitosis

Previous Winners:

2006 – BellX1 – Rocky took a lover

2005 – Patty Griffin – Top of the World

2004 – The Postal Service – Such Great Heights

2003 – Autamata – Out of This