22 Songs I Loved in 2012 by Lucy Cage
Riz MC (ft Plan B & Aruba Red) – All Of You
Ah, Riz! Sigh. OK, so my Riz-crush is fuelled by admiration for his acting smarts (Four Lions, Road To Guantanamo, iLL Manors) but this sharp-witted track from his new album is unquestionably superb. It oozes disquiet with every sleazy beat, ripping the covers off the nastiness, the power-plays, the hot cruel greediness of lust. Uncomfortable, unbalanced and unkind, not a song you’d really be advised to accept a drink off but with which you’d be sorely tempted to lose a grimy weekend or two.
Berangere Maximin – Knitting In The Air
Here’s a strange beauty, a witchery of noise. Maximin, who works with Fred Frith and Rhys Chatham, weaves an uncomfortable quilt from drones and static, chilly vocals and tiny scraps of colourful prettiness. Like EMA all grown-up and mindful of her mess.
Dirty Projectors – Gun Has No Trigger
I’m with Wallace on this one. Can’t resist the sound of those voices. The fucking NOISE they make! WAAAAH!
Miike Snow (ft Lykke Li) – Black Tin Box
More chilliness, this time from Miike Snow. It’s got some of the pomp of a Genesis number (all those echoey vocals and portentiousness) which might get my goat good and proper if it weren’t for the addition of Lykke Li’s whispery slink and some really rather lovely electronica pop.
BoA – Hurricane Venus
This is REALLY old. Like from waaay back in 2010. I don’t care if I’m late to the K-Pop party, I got there in the end. This titan of a song is all shiny and tinny; you’ll probably hate it. It prowls and spits and sprinkles words like ‘supersonic’ and ‘bionic’ and ‘automatic’ around to mark its territory. It’s got the Guetta-ish full-throated Metallic Overwhelm fader up to max. And at precisely two mins in it has a strange little off-beat break that judders down your spine, bouncing notes and words like so many tennis balls pattering down the stairs to trip you up. It’s awesome. And it does that remarkable thing once and once only and then ploughs relentlessly, mercilessly, magnificently on. The pop-est pop in the universe.
Here’s a Spotify playlist for those that use that kind of thing.
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