In the middle of compiling this list, I spoke to a friend of mine yesterday and discussed my selections. One by one, I typed a list of artists whose songs I had chosen, and she seemed fairly contented if more than a little preoccupied. I mentioned Hercules & Love Affair, and I reckon there was a fair bit of spittle on her keyboard as I followed with 'Athene'...
"BLIND! BLIND!"
...is the only response that I got, so apeshit was she that I had overlooked it. 'Blind' is a terrific song with a spellbinding turn from Antony Hegarty, but as overfastidious a point as this may be, the beat is lifted from James Murphy's ''45:33' mix for Nike, and that's a couple of years old now. I think Athene is far more interesting because it has an understated and magnetic quality, and for a song to feel so melancholy and so utterly head-nodding is quite a feat.
So basically Hewit, I'm right and you're wrong. Here's to 2009.
1.M.I.A. - Paper Planes
The mystery of 'Paper Planes' is that it's so straightforward. It's an impeccable piece of boom bap hip hop that evokes flashes of a ghetto spaghetti western thanks to its shrill guitar. Diplo and Switch craft a beat as clean as a stockbroker's desk, with a Clash sample juxtaposing a smoothness that is usually absent in M.I.A.'s flourescent ouevre. Her poker faced vocal is crafty and dispassionately hip, leaving the lyrics to betray glimpses of resigned empathy. For an artist so dazzling in her appearance and sonics, the records' relatively ethereal serenity and muted tone continues to keep people guessing.
2.MGMT - Kids
The inferno of hype that surrounded the indie renaissance overseeing the emergence of trendsetting Franz Ferdinand and the exhilarating Artic Monkeys is now merely a flickering ember starved of the oxygen that fresh and innovative bands provide. The rot has been setting in for some time thanks to a glut of morosely ordinary acts, but no-one's naming names. The arrival of MGMT both as a band and a precursor to a progression in the genre has been something of a catalyst for renewed excitement. Their songs often freefall from layered, buzzing keys into freebasing totem psychadelica and back again. While the consistency of their album is an arguable caveat, the quality of their singles has been undeniable. The pick of the litter is 'Kids', a delirious synth progression matched by an impassioned Andrew VanWyngarden. 'Kids' is more fun than kicking a wombat; it's effortlessly affable and never dares to take itself seriously. Ah, to be young again.
3.Kavinsky - TestaRossa Autodrive (Sebastian Remix)
If it were possible to distill the wet dream of being David Hasslehoff in Knight Rider sans Pras and Ol' Dirty Bastard, then this 3 minute bubble of joyriding electro is what that would sound like. Initially available via the Electro Choc radio station of 'Grand Theft Auto IV', Sebastian hardens the arteries of Kavinsky's original by serving up lean licks of guitar and extra bite to the percussion. Since The Hoff prefers a KFC bucket to riding in the bucket seat of his chatty Pontiac nowadays, Sebastian's visceral remix is the perfect invitation to half inch a shiny coupe and show up the polis with your flash tunes and ladykiller perm.
4.Hercules and Love Affair - Athene
Hercules and Love Affair's sensuality is de facto. It was no surprise that their solution to missing Antony Hegarty's earthy vocal presence on their European tour was to kit up Nomi in bondage gear so revealing that it might have attracted a conservative gasp at a Dutch sex show. Despite this, there's also an affectation toward intimacy at a familial level. And on 'Athene', Kim Ann Foxman plants a soft kiss on the forehead of this slice of disco whimsy. The creeping bass and warmth of the keys tumble into eachother like reunited friends at St. Pancreas, with some added George Jetson gloss to spice things up. There are lots of gentle flourishes to Foxman's earnest cry, and there's also a maternal yearning in her lyrics that renders 'Athene' one of the coolest lullabies you're likely to hear.
5.Crystal Castles - Alice Practice
Difficult to like, impossible to resist. There's no underestimating the brusque relationship between Crystal Castles and music journalists that vainly claw at the mysterious irritant of this emergent Myspace phenomena. If Ethan Kath is happiest with being understood as an exponent of raw disharmony, then 'Alice Practice' is their enduring fuck you to dance music and the particularly unwelcome comparison to its chip scene offshoot. Alice Glass' soul withering yell lunges at the ears, accompanied by the industrial thud of what sounds like a waterboarded Sega. Their intimately feral live shows continue to enthrall and consign fans to frenzy, and it's pretty clear that this relationship is one that's far less fragile.
6. Cut Copy - Hearts On Fire
Tim Goldsworthy not only provided the DFA Records seal of approval to Hercules and Love Affairs' romantic revision of disco, but he also guilds Cut Copy's mixing desk with lush waves of sunblushed 80's synth, imbued with a playfulness that defies the notion that an indie band must form their collective bouche into cloying pouts of megatit proportions to be credible. The video for 'Hearts On Fire' shows Cut Copy frontman Dan Whitford having his parade thoroughly rained on, and much like the video, the song curls a wry smile towards the folly of handing over your jar of claret into the vice-like grip of the opposite sex. 'Hearts On Fire' swirls with a careful blend of warm synths and spindly keys that intersect with adroit vocal samples and Whitford's pitch perfect delivery of naive optimism. But the most significant thing about it is that they manage to justify naked, wholesome happiness as an emotion of creative significance. No mean feat, that.
7.Santogold - L.E.S. Artistes
The reception that Santi White's eponymous self titled album received was an indifferent and careless comparison to M.I.A., thanks to her soundclash leanings and the absence of a Y chromosome. The bracketeering is all the more difficult to understand since Santogold's pallete is identifiable by its lo-fi garage rock sensibility, infused with slivers of hip hop and 80's pop. Her appropriation of other genres are skimmed from the top and reconfigured rather than absorbed and reproduced wholesale. 'L.E.S. Artistes' is a slow burner that reveals itself to be extraordinary in its simple aesthetic. A tuxedo sharp bassline together with immaculate drumming propel Santogold's aluminium sheen into the stratospheric plateau of the synth driven chorus. By distancing herself from the M.I.A.-lite accusations that have been thrust upon her, Santogold determination to make her own mark is as unequivocal as her penchant for defying expectations.
8.El Guincho - Palmitos Park
El Guincho's calipso freak-outs on his debut LP are at once busy and bewitching. 'Alegranza' feels like an indefatigable holiday of technicolour, charming you with its wild-eyed delirium. 'Palmitos Park' represents one of the more accessible episodes of Pablo Dias-Reixa's genre clusterfuck. The organic base of samples that include audience applause and wooing is uplifted by Dias-Reixa's breathless and quixotic yelps. His youthful and spirited timber also adds a lightness to 'Palmitos Park' that 'Alegranza' itself lacks on occassion. However, one thing that El Guincho is not short for is energy, and so 2009 should see the proper arrival of his delirious and hypnotic carnival of noise.
9.Lil' Wayne - A Milli
Consider Dwayne Michael Carter Junior's ascendence in 2008 as a warped reflection of Barack Obama's US election triumph. Both have shown a shrewd and innovative streak in their radical marketing methods that have simply overwhelmed their nearest rivals. Obama campaigned ad naseum, and Lil' Wayne mixtaped his ass off. Moreover, Lil' Wayne and Obama are the messianic poster boys of rap and US politics respectively, both of which have suffered from a terminal subversion of credibility in recent history. In 2006, Lil' Wayne said that he was better than Jay-Z. In 2008, his electoral promise is threatening to fulfill itself. 'A Milli' has a prodigious and yet stupidly simple premise at its core; to find a domineering alpha male of a bassline, and pair it with an inspired Rick Ross sample that sounds alot better than a Rick Ross song. Lil' Wayne's stealthy flow is an extension of the beat, pouring maniacally over the drums like syrup. Motherfucker, he's ill.
10.Pendulum - The Tempest
That 'In Silico' rocks as hard as any guitar album in 2008 is no accident, but there are whispers of discontent in the moshpit. Nobody expected to be discussing lyrics or lead guitar after the densely hotboxed drum and bass of 'Hold Your Colour'. December's issue of Mixmag goads them to come out of their jungle closet, but the truth is that they did so long ago with their dicks swinging. 'The Tempest' embodies the band's increased appetite towards rock laced bombast. There's a sweeping melancholy to the first 90 seconds, before a bukkake of guitar, snare batterings and melodrama engulf everything else. By bookending 'In Silico', 'The Tempest' signposts a glimpse into their third album, but if the rest of their efforts are as grand and confident as this one then nobody will care which way Pendulum will swing next.
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