A post went round Twitter a while ago where people were getting all RETVRN-style “look at what we have lost” about the high tide of US indie rock in 2009, a period of pretty stupefying consensus as I remember it, which as we’ve already established may not be much. Of the five horsemen of GAPDY, only one shows up in this bunch of candidates.
LADY GAGA ft BEYONCE – “Telephone”: A dialogue between two stars but also between the cutting-edge pop sounds of ’09 and ’99 – “Telephone” is a RedOne style EDM churner swallowing the delicate harpsichord-and-hi-hat sounds of late-90s R&B – Rodney Jerkins is even on the decks. A passing of the torch, if only because Beyonce had better things to do than worry much about the singles chart. YES.
YEAH YEAH YEAHS – “Heads Will Roll”: As a newer bunch of indie acts took a turn in the spotlight, some of the early 00s bunch went belatedly all pop on us – “Heads Will Roll” is closer to P!nk’s chrome-plated New Wave borrowings than to the YYYs earlier material. I’m in a constant state of indecision as to which of their 2009 singles I like better. NO.
SLEIGH BELLS – “Crown On The Ground”: It used to be so fun playing this out. The basic idea isn’t new – it’s a variation on what the Jesus And Mary Chain were doing back in the mid 80s, playing classic pop at completely fucked, blown-out levels. But it works better with Sleigh Bells’ call-and-response and jump-rope pop than it did with the more Spectorish stuff, and the digital edge on the distortion beckons to hyperpop. YES.
SHAKIRA – “She Wolf”: AH-OOOO! YES. (Though I might go for “Loba”, the English lyrics are a bit of a squash).
MAJOR LAZER ft NINA SKY – “Keep It Goin’ Louder”: One of the earlier, better examples of Major Lazer’s brand of party-rockin’, elevated by smoothness from Nina Sky and with a lovely bait and switch ending (that 90s trance riff suddenly coming in is the best few seconds of the song). This kind of big-room pop is the sound of the turn of the 10s, keep on dancin’ til the world ends, &c – it mostly sounds better to me than it did then, when I was too old and too burdened by responsibilities for it. NO.
TEMPA T – “Next Hype”: Absolutely rabid grime tune with enough comic timing to keep its gonzo violence on the right side of entertaining. NO.
ARMAND VAN HELDEN ft DIZZEE RASCAL – “Bonkers”: Meanwhile the first wave of grime stars were selling out as hard as possible. I dunno if I’ll go back to Dizzee – a domestic violence conviction tends to stick in my mind when the aggression is, or was, so much of the appeal. For old time’s sake I put this on the longlist though – Number 1 when my second child was born. NO.
LINDSTROM – “Little Drummer Boy”: The 40+ minute “Little Drummer Boy” is the greatest Christmas record of the 21st century and is absolutely one of my 50 favourite singles by any metric other than “do I want to hear it repeatedly?”. No I don’t, I want to hear it once a year on Christmas Eve, and that’s what I’m going to keep on doing. See you in 3 months and 6 days! NO.
CAM’RON – “My Job”: One of the most easy, pleasant to listen to rappers who hasn’t always had the material to match his talent – “My Job” is an exception, built on a lovely piano hook with Cam’Ron taking on radically different perspectives – a woman stuck in a grinding office job and an ex-con trying to find work on the outside. The common denominator: work sucks and the deck’s stacked against you. YES.
FUTURE OF THE LEFT – “Arming Eritrea”: C’MON RICK! I don’t listen to much punk (or hardcore, or post-hardcore, or whatever this is) but every so often something cuts through and I’m very glad of it. As with Cam’Ron’s track, if you can’t empathise with “I know my own worth! I’M AN ADULT!” sometimes I envy you your working conditions. NO.
YEAH YEAH YEAHS – “Zero”: “Zero” handles its builds very well – almost every time I play it I think when it starts, oh, this is a bit weedier than I remember, and then brings in layer upon layer until that filthy great glam guitar riff gets smeared all over the track and I’m, oh NOW I remember why I love this song. YES.
FUCK BUTTONS – “Surf Solar”: Sound the long-ass dance klaxon! Not that this is precisely – or even vaguely – dance music, though it does sound like the shuddering rhythm of some vast extraplanetary machine. YES.
Next it’s a new decade (and possibly a double-bill year, the volume of tracks per year drops a bit as we go through the 10s).