We had the all conquering Adele kick off the year with 'Rolling in the Deep' and then never look back, Dinosaur Pile-Up's 'My Rock and Roll' herald the grunge revival that other bands would more successfully run off with (including Cage The Elephant's 'Shake Me Down') and, in the midst of a terrible year for guitars, Miles Kane release some cracking singles in the forms of 'Come Closer' and 'Inhaler' and cement himself as a 'one to watch'. Maverick Sabre's 'Let Me Go' successfully answering the question 'I wonder what a squashed Plan B would sound like singing over that Glory Box sample that Portishead used?' And US pop and R'n'B continue its quite frankly baffling fascination with mid-90's turgid Eurodance. Even Rihanna got so bored with using sexuality to shift records that she started putting clothes back on again by the end of the year.
Against that backdrop though you did get some cracking tunes from a (mainly female) diverse range of existing and brand new talent. It's just that you probably wouldn't find them in the charts unfortunately. Good music then, I guess, isn't dead, it's just increasingly harder to find.
Nicola Roberts 'Beat of My Drum'
UK Chart high : Number 27 in June
At one point it seemed that the entire music industry, journos and the general public were all wanting the ginge from Girls Aloud to succeed so much that we would have said her debut single was great even if she'd covered one of Nadine Coyle's tracks (still available at Tesco). Fortunately, Nicola, with the help of several music producers on the kewl list, lived up to expectations. Coming over all Missy Elliot/Timbaland-style, back when they were inventive, 'Beat of My Drum' looked and sounded like nothing around at the time - skittering rhythms and barking dog percussion, kooky styling coupled with lyrics designed to drum (ahem) into us how young and inexperienced Nicola was when she started out but 'hey! look at her now'. Obviously it also helped that this was released around about the time that Cheryl was being made a laughing stock and replaced on the US Xfactor by the humourless, dead-eyed, fame hungry ex of Lewis 'I don't need you now to get in the tabloids' Hamilton. Unfortunately it seemed that the inventiveness well was only 3 minutes deep, no-one actually bought it and subsequent singles haven't quite lived up to this one - but we're all waiting for the Girls Aloud reunion tour anyway aren't we?
Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds 'AKA...What a Life!'
UK Chart high : Number 20 in September
Unlike his younger brother, Noel Gallagher it seems, isn't stupid. If you know that your band's going down the swanny and you're going to leave sooner rather than later, best keep a few of the better tunes to one side and not waste them on the has-beens. Although I have to say I'm in no real hurry to get the album I was very pleasantly surprised with this track on its release, not least because it's finally an uptempo number from the Gallaghers that takes you back to the days when Oasis were worth taking seriously. Beady Eye also confirmed that its better to have an average voice and decent tunes than a brilliant voice and awful tunes. That 'AKA...' starts off like peak-era Charlatans also gains it several brownie points in this household. Nice to see he's keeping up the Oasis tradition of appalling videos too.
Lykke Li 'Get Some'
UK Chart high : Did not chart
In a fairer world Lykke Li would be far more famous than she actually is (and her cracking singles would actually make the chart - shame on you Britain). There just seems to be a blindspot over here for talented, intellegent, engaging Swedish pop singers (see also Robyn). 'Get Some' is a tribal, insistent, dare I say sexy, song that shows far more ubiquitous female solo singers how to tread the line between being provocative and maintaining your integrity (and being slightly unhinged without being Ke$ha). The fact that she manages to pull that off whilst singing 'Like a shotgun needs an outcome...you're gonna get some' is no mean feat. She was equally as great performing live on 'Later...' too, even without a shotgun.
James Blake 'Limit to Your Love'
UK Chart high : Number 39 in January
I often wonder how many of the people featured at the beginning of the year in the 'Stars to look out for' lists actually sit there with their head in their hands and cry 'No, please no!' I've no basis for thinking this but I suspect James Blake probably did exactly that. The music press pounced on this frankly excellent 'cover' of the Feist track at the close of 2010 and waited impatiently and expectantly for the album to follow, all the while increasing the hype factor. There's a definite reason to do that, the song is sparse, considered and yet incredibly emotive. James' pure voice flowing over and around the heavy bassline and reverbs to great effect and making full use of the empty spaces in between. Perhaps the fact that the last act to successfully take that approach were The Xx only added to the expectations that were, to be honest, deflated on the release of the album where you realised James was far more interested in experimenting than churning out hits. To me that's absolutely fine, plow your own furrow young man and ta for this tender yet hard hitting track.
The Go! Team 'Buy Nothing Day'
UK Chart high : Did not chart
It really does continue to amaze me when I hear tunes that are so obviously catchy and made for the charts but which then just disappear without a trace (actually that infers they appear in the first place which is often not true either). Case in point being the high energy, bubblegum sheen of The Go! Team who seem to have a solid, if small, fanbase, really get the crowd going in an old-style way on the festival circuit and constantly make slices of blissful chart-friendly music that, despite all those ingredients, just don't seem to catch on. Sad. 'Buy Nothing Day' is possibly the most full-on catchy tune of the year that doesn't even bother with the formalities of an intro or build up, just hits you straight between the ears with pure pop excellence. Well okay, it starts with a '1,2,3,4' but then hits you straight away between the ears with pure pop excellence. Every line is lifted straight from a chorus and the production is teleported directly from late '60's psychedelia. It hit all the right buttons for me - particularly the one marked 'I have to play this over and over 100 times until my eyes bleed'. Review in a nutshell - sunshine.
The Good Natured 'Skeleton'
UK Chart high : Did not chart
Okay, so plenty of things make me feel old these days, but perhaps the worst one this year was hearing that The Good Natured's frontwoman Sarah MacIntosh wrote her first EP on her Grandma's 1980 Yahama keyboard. 1980. Grandma. I'll just let that sink in for a second there. Right, nevermind that. With 'Skeleton' you have a fairly straightforward lyric of comparing being stripped to the bone with opening up emotionally which is hardly a first; but it's the delivery and the tune that keeps it fresh. Another superb female-fronted, tribal drum-driving piece of 80's tinged electro-pop with Flock of Seagull via La Roux hair-styling. There's also more than a nod to Jane Wiedlin's 'Rush Hour' peppered within the song too - which of course only lifts it to further shimmering pop heights.
Friends 'I'm His Girl'
UK Chart high : Did not chart
When you add the following into a song and video there really is no option other than to put it straight into your top ten. Begin the song by playing a triangle, add a dirty 'Head on the Door' era Cure-like bassline, drop in breathy female vocals, strut around New York with a beatbox whilst being filmed in Super 8 and include a shot of Neneh Cherry's 'Raw Like Sushi' cassette in the vid as well as channelling her 'Bufallo Stance' attitude and you're all set. Far too cool for school this lot, but all the better for it. Despite daring to call themselves after a little-known US sitcom set in the same city, Friends project exactly that 'us against the world' vibe that the coolest bands just seem to have naturally. Definitely one to watch into the new year I reckon (and so do the BBC).
Lana Del Rey 'Video Games'
UK Chart high : Number 9 in October
There's been a fair bit of backlash already for dear Lana, commentators pointing to her already trying the mainstream music route and failing so now going all 'cool' and questioning her authenticity. Does that matter? Why not try a new direction (especially if it means you stop producing mainstream crud and instead release frankly beautiful music such as this - win:win!) 'Video Games' out of all this top ten stuff, probably stands the most chance of becoming a much-covered classic. It has that feel of coming from its own universe, fully formed and perfected, not really fitting into any one time period or owing much to one style and yet evoking past memories with its considered production and gentle, country-tinged Loretta Lynn-style vocals. Again out of all the list, this is the track that I can remember exactly where I was when I first heard it, its impact being so instant. A gem. And this one actually got into the real Top Ten.
Foster the People 'Pumped Up Kicks'
UK Chart high : Number 18 in July
We did have a bit of a summer, I know it's hard to remember now, but it's true. This soundtracked mine. Laid back basslines, whistling and keyboard noodlings and scratchings blended with the even more laid back delivery from a trio of LA surfers to form a perfect summer pop song. Quite surprisingly this even went to Number 1 in the States (which sort of ruins my 'you won't find these in the charts' theme but there's always an exception that proves the rule). For such a blissful, summer vibe it's rather startling when you realise you're merrily singing along to the innermost thoughts of a mass shootist 'All the other kids with the pumped up kicks, you'd better run, better run faster than my bullets'. I'm not saying it's especially deep but I do love those shiny pop songs with a dark underbelly. And then O2 used it to sell phones and the band promptly turned into Orson on their new single (but I still rather like it). Ah, well.
Beth Ditto 'I Wrote the Book'
UK Chart high : 76 in March
Ironically there was a time when you couldn't move for Beth Ditto. With The Gossip's 'Standing in the Way of Control' (which I won't link to cos I think we've all heard it enough now) she was on the airwaves and patronisingly featured on television in the same way as Susan Boyle was i.e. 'ooh look, someone who doesn't look like the media's definition of a singer who's actually got a good voice'. Luckily for her she was bright enough to recognise this and used it to her advantage, pushing the boundaries of what she could get away with and what the press would stomach. Unfortunately it seemed that the press didn't like being taken on at their own game and soon moved on to picking on someone else of a more 'conventional' nature. All of which probably explains why this awesome track barely tickled the lower reaches of chartland. Had Beth released this soon after shouting her way through '...Control' she'd stand a good chance of being as big as Madonna rather than having to impersonate her (intentionally and quite brilliantly) in the video to this tune. It's not simply the brilliant apeing of 'Justify My Love' in the video that puts this head and shoulders above anything else released this year. The production is pitch perfect and the lyrics (of a conversation between two lovers about infidelity along the lines of 'you can't kid a kidder') are written with intricacy. Beth's vocal delivery never needs to get to previous overblown levels to show what a powerful force she can be. In summary it's all smashingly excellent and (as regards Beth's vocals at least) proves that less is definitely more.
Listen to the Top Ten Singles of 2011 and a few more besides on Spotify
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