Right, the little matter of the lost ballots has been resolved and we can march on.
43. SLEIGH BELLS – “Tell Em”: This is from my favourite album of the year but the songs from it definitely work best for me as part of their own little world. But this is at the very least a good introduction to what the band do.
42. TENSNAKE – “Coma Cat”: A club anthem of 2010, it sez here. Big euphoric vocal-sample house of the sort that seems to have always been around. The link is to the radio edit, the longer one is on Spotify I believe.
41. MARINA AND THE DIAMONDS – “Hollywood”: Promoted! From the old 51-100 list. Doing a whole radio programme about this one has purged it from my playlist but it’s still good – and simultaneously infuriating – pop. The video is very cheapo, the kind of thing an “America-themed” vid would have looked like in 1981.
40. FAR EAST MOVEMENT ft THE CATARACS & DEV – “Like A G6”: Could have gone higher, I think. Post-peas “I’m In A Club!!” pop but distinguished by enormous submarine bleep-beats and a certain rawness. Hilarious conspicuous iPad cameo in video. SLIZZARD! Erm, what is a G6 exactly?
39. DJ ZINC ft MS DYNAMITE – “Wile Out”: The return to prominence and form of Ms Dynamite is one of the best pop things of the last couple of years – she can still shift between chat and melody better than almost anyone, even if the bug-eyed bouncing bassline here is threatening to steal her show. Terrific.
38. JASON DERULO – “Ridin’ Solo”: This is the highest-placed song to only get two votes. LOADS of autotune on this, used quite well though autotuned falseto always sounds a bit crap to me. I am not totally convinced by Jason DeRulo as a pop star – or maybe it’s just that I’m watching this video after spending last night looking at Turquoise Jeep ones.
37. GORILLAZ – “Stylo”: I find Gorillaz videos almost completely unwatchable so no comment on that. But the song is nice in a low-key way, lots of ideas, the counterpoint of Mos Def and fey vox reminds me very much of Scritti Politti’s (underrated, a bit) Anomie And Bonhomie record, in fact this whole track has a kind of late-90s feel to it, a lil bit Moby, a lil bit Primal Scream in their imitation motorik phase.
36. CASSIE – “Skydiver”: Hurrah! It wouldn’t be a Poptimists-affiliated poll without a lost Cassie track! Her usual creamily vulnerable vocals rising above a rattling beat and serviceable metaphor.
35. JAMES BLAKE – “Limit To Your Love”: I’m not sure where I stand on James Blake – I haven’t heard the whole album yet, but the first track by him I heard was “Klavierwerke” and having loved that I’m a bit disappointed his other stuff is so vocal. I like how he doesn’t hesitate to treat his vocals on this – but the spacious productions he makes work very differently as settings for songs, and seem more tasteful than magical.
34. LCD SOUNDSYSTEM – “I Can Change”: Lots was made about another LCD song being a ‘tribute’ to “Heroes”, but I haven’t seen anyone mention “Love Is A Stranger” in reference to this and yet that’s all it ever brings to mind. Maybe it’s just me! This has really grown on me since my initial dismissive encounter with it back when the album came out. James Murphy is one of those songwriters who is very good at capturing a particular mood, and to be honest I’m not sure it’s a terribly healthy mood, there is only so much self-reflection on the topic of ageing that one needs. But that said, “I Can Change” has stealthily overtaken their other slowies as their definitive track for me.
Three more chunks to go, at 11 apiece I think! Coming next… The rawest track in the Top 50, the last gasps of a dying pop empire, and a current one in full cry.