“Hi! I’m Pop Idol winner and all-round charming individual Will Young, here to introduce the next batch of delights for this year’s Reader’s Poll. Sadly I’m not among the tracks below (possibly due to my recent habit of sporting an inadvisable cowlick) but I’m sure they’re all lovely nonetheless! P.S. Watch my dog video.”
Thanks for that Will. Poll results #40-#31 under the cut!
40. Big Freedia – ‘Y’all Get Back Now’
An absolute 100% no-messin’ banger from the New Orleans bounce scene, much beloved by The Singles Jukebox crew (check the comments thread for a cameo appearance by Freedia’s DJ!). I totally underrated it at the time but its infectiousness soon got the better of me.
39. Laurel Halo – ‘Aquifer’
Time for the token techno entry! If you know your techno you’ve probably heard this already, if you don’t then I’d say it’s more on the ambient pitter-patter end of the spectrum rather than the mechanical or vworpy ends (i.e. more Orb than Orbital) (and yes it’s a multi-dimensional spectrum).
38. St Vincent – ‘Surgeon’
I keep reading the song title as ‘Sturgeon’ but I can confirm that St Vincent is not the patron saint of fish nor is this song about fish. Unless there is some hidden subtext I’m missing amongst her woozy burble? We had to dissect a fish in Biology once so perhaps that’s it.
37. Swede Mason – ‘Masterchef Synaesthesia’
Even Masterchef-haters can appreciate the time and effort that’s gone in to making this. Gawd bless the Great British Public – they managed to get it to #37 in the charts.
36. DJ Fresh ft. Sian Evans – ‘Louder’
Last year DJ Fresh did awesome skipping, this year things have gone a bit Rastamouse and the kids are all on skateboards and rollerskates. If one was being cynical one might say that this tune was constructed purely for use in pre-Olympic sporting hype montages.
35. Wiz Khalifa – ‘Black and Yellow’
This one popped its head up above the parapet last December and as such was a bit of a grey area (it made a number of 2010 lists, but only entered the UK chart in March 2011). Anyway it’s great so have another listen.
34. Lady Gaga – ‘Scheiße’
Belgian hoover-rave has never sounded so hormonal! Gaga describes the terrible fate of many women across the globe who get constipated around that time of the month.
33. Pitbull ft. Ne-Yo, Afrojack, & Nayer – ‘Give Me Everything’
Despite a fairly dodgy premise (Ne-Yo basically sings “hey the apocalypse is about to happen, let’s sh4g”) this song finally wore me down by December. According to Wikipedia, Pitbull’s vocal range spans from G to B♭, with the title melody is a short tonic expansion utilizing the pitches E♭–E♭ major/D–E♭–A♭. I’m a sucker for all that.
32. Lady Gaga – ‘The Edge Of Glory’
Stefanie cracks out the saxophones and studded leather for possibly the worst episode of Sesame Street you’ll ever see. Amazingly this is her highest entry in the list but let’s face it she’s had plenty of ’em.
31. Rebecca Black – ‘Friday’
R! B! Rebecca! Black! The most controversial song of the year is much lower down the list than I was expecting but perhaps most of you are sick of bowl and cereal by now?
#30-#21 coming up tomorrow (hopefully)!