Nothing Ever Happened - DEERHUNTER
Delayed gratification, meet instant pleasure. "Nothing Ever Happened" it's the Deerhunter song you play for people who don't think they like Deerhunter.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1JHdSBibO8
49
Ready For The Floor - HOT CHIP
Hot Chip's singer Alexis Taylor gave an explanation about the use of the line, "You're my number one guy" in the song, and also explained how it visually impacted the music video: (Taylor is dressed as the Joker):
"I really like this line in the first Batman film, not the very first one that was made, but the first Tim Burton Batman film. Jack Palance tells Jack Nicholson, 'You are my number one guy.' And it's a completely false statement.
He says it in a really funny, mimicking way. I quite like it. He's not only mimicking the character in the film, he's also mimicking Jack Palance as an actor. He's mimicking his melodramatic style. That line has always stuck with me."
Hot Chip also has the hottest keyboardist on earth!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AW94AEmzFhQ
48
Aly, Walk With Me - THE RAVEONETTES
The music video of this tune is as dark yet cartoonish as the distortion-laden song in question, showing the group's Sune Rose Wagner and Sharin Foo walking-- in bobble-headed paper-doll form-- against a starry night sky and a cityscape representing the city mentioned in the lyrics (Portland). After lots of walking, Foo gets some Vishnu arms on, and then butterfly wings, flanked by some skeletons. Whoever Aly is, she might be better off walking alone
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-3fmjjk4aA
47
So What - PINK
The f*&# you anthem of 2008 debuted at #9 on the Billboard Hot 100, making it Pink's highest debut to date on the chart. The song has since peaked at #1, making it her first solo #1, and second overall after "Lady Marmalade", a collaboration with Christina Aguilera, Mýa, and Lil' Kim.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bNDr1A6dTU
46
If I Were A Boy - BEYONCE'
"This is not a traditional R&B song. It's difficult to grow and to break out and do new things because people have strong expectations. I feel like at this point, I wanted people to hear songs with stronger lyrics and songs that made you feel. I love singing ballads because I feel like the music and the emotion in the story is told so much better. It's a better connection because you can hear it and it's not all these other distractions. I really wanted people to hear my voice and hear what I had to say."
Beyonce
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVTyLqkez6A
45
Like You'll Never See Me Again - ALICIA KEYS
This song is notably influenced by Prince, which is one of Alicia Keys‘ most important influences. Like you'll never see me again is one of 2008's most beautiful unconditional love songs.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-WZG-y2e9k
44
Wow - KYLIE MINOGUE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MmYGVcWSGlU
43
Hot N Cold - KATY PERRY
The track was released as the album's third single. It reached number three on the Billboard Hot 100, making it Perry's second consecutive top three single, after her previous worldwide hit "I Kissed a Girl". The single has also become Perry's second top five single in dozens of countries around the world, including the U.K, Australia, Ireland and New Zealand, as well as topping the charts in Germany, Canada and Denmark.
In Russia "Hot N Cold" became the third song by an American artist to reach number-one (the previous being Madonna with Hung Up).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X75mry1LcFg
42
Disturbia - RIHANNA
Originally written by Chris Brown and his team known as the Graffiti Artizts and considered for the re-release of his album Exclusive. However, Brown felt that the song would be better suited for a female singer; he then forwarded the song to his sweetheart.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3znib5qZ2o
41
Moving to New York - THE WOMBATS
Great rock song by this powerful band from Liverpool.
They comprise two native Liverpudlians; Matthew Murphy, provider of vocals, guitar and keyboards, drummer and vocalist Dan Haggis and bass and vocalist Tord Øverland-Knudsen, a Norwegian who has made his home in the city. The band is known for their lively stage presence and their stuffed wombat mascot Cherub.This song is taken from their debut album The Wombats Proudly Present: A Guide to Love, Loss & Desperation release in late 2007.
For their next album it has been revealed that another Liverpudliann, Sir Paul McCartney will be in charge of the production.
Moving to New York was my "coming back to New York" anthem from my trip to the North West.
http://cereghinology.blogspot.com/2008/09/on-my-way-back-to-nyc-anthem.html
40
Closer - NE-YO
Best choreography on a video of 2008! "Closer" marks a musical departure for Ne-Yo, taking on a dance pop style over the more rhythmic and urban sound his songs usually possess. In the song, Ne-Yo sings of having an urging attraction to a woman he sees, having the desire to "come closer" to her. His attraction to her becomes stronger, and almost hypnotic-like, as he sings "And I just can't pull myself away, under a spell I can't break/I just can't stop."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUTh3OJjWjM
39
Sabali - AMADOU AND MARIAM
Amadou and Mariam are an amazingly talented duo from Mali who have been making music together since they met at the Bamako's Institute for the Blind in 1977. Their music combines all sorts of influences into a fresh sound that travels very well, something Mali is increasingly becoming known for. Manu Chao produced the breakthrough record Dimanche à Bamako-- an album that charted like crazy throughout Europe. Their latest album, Welcome to Mali, will feature tunes with Somali-Canadian MC K'Naan, Nigeria's blues/funk star Keziah Jones, Malian kora virtuoso Toumani Diabate, and Ivorian reggae singer Tiken Jah Fakoly, among others.
The first single off this record was produced by none other than Damon Albarn-- which isn't so weird, considering his melodica-driven Mali Music venture from 2002. The track, "Sabali", starts off sounding like a lo-fi radio broadcast but this gives way to echo, bass and electronics. The general result of this is not some kind of Brit-pop gone to Mali, but rather just an interesting use of voice and rhythm that could easily be a pop hit beyond the borders of France, where Amadou and Mariam have found their biggest success thus far.
Sabali is the last of 3 songs included in our countdown interpreted in a foreign language and also the #1 song of 2008 for my senegalese good friend Calin that works as a porter in Tabla restaurant.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EIZkCSfiP9o&feature=related
38
Grounds For Divorce - ELBOW
Acclaimed for their innovative sound and front-man Guy Garvey's candid, evocative lyrics, Elbow have received vast critical acclaim and been endorsed by major artists Radiohead, Blur, R.E.M. and U2 despite minor commercial success during much of their career.
In September of 2008, Elbow won the Mercury Music Prize for The Seldom Seen Kid.
The band plan to follow this success, by starting work on a fifth studio album, before their European tour in autumn 2008. They are also planning a side-project album of children's songs, to accompany an animated film.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iL4mywCOJXA37
House Of Cards - RADIOHEAD
The awesome video for House of Cards was made without the use of conventional cameras. Performances by Thom Yorke, actors and extras were captured by using structured light and lasers.Sixty-four lasers were used in the Velodyne Lidar process, shooting 900 times a minute to capture large scenes, while structured light was used to 'film' close-up scenes.
Thom Yorke explained the band's decision not to use cameras, saying: "I always like the idea of using technology in a way that it wasn't meant to be used, the struggle to get your head round what you can do with it."I liked the idea of making a video of human beings and real life and time without using any cameras, just lasers, so there are just mathematical points - and how strangely emotional it ended up being."
House of cards is included in the list of my Favorite Videos of 2008.
http://cereghinology.blogspot.com/2008/12/best-of-el-ocho-music-videos.html
36
Pumpkin Soup - KATE NASH
One of many songs that makes me think of my beautiful papo. This is the one that we used to play in his car during the winter of 2008. It is also one the weirdest videos that I've seen in my life.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VH2yvdGM7YA
35
Scared Of Heights - ESPEN LIND
During the past few years Espen Lind has done a lot of writing and producing, most notably as co-writer of both "Irreplaceable" by Beyoncé and "With You" by Chris Brown. Together with writing partner Amund Bjørklund in the production team Espionage he has also written and/or produced songs for artists Jessica Simpson, Ne-Yo, Elliott Yamin, Leona Lewis and Jordin Sparks.
"I didn't think I'd meet someone who'd make me change my ways
Never thought I'd find someone who'd brighten up my days
Someone who made me forget my hands were tied my wings were clipped
Someone who made me believe that I could let goYou lift me up into the sky
I felt like I could fly
I was never gonna die n' I almost made it but not quite
you're flying out of sight and you know I can't come with you
'cause I'll always be scared of heights "
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1NU7Eb7ghA
34Live Your Life - T.I. FT. RIHANNA
Probably one of the best use of a sample in a song for 2008. Live your life contains a rendition of the O-Zone song "Dragostea Din Tei,", a number one single throughout Europe but also known from the Numa Numa Internet fad.
The T.I. and Rihanna collabo debuted at #80 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart solely on airplay for the chart week of October 10, 2008. The following week, the song made history and broke several records when it skyrocketed from 80-1 on the Hot 100, setting the record for the highest jump to number one, a record previously set by T.I. himself only six weeks prior when his song "Whatever You Like" jumped 71-1 on the chart. However, this record was broken the following week by Britney Spears and her song Womanizer jumping from 96-1 on the Hot 100.
"Live Your Life" also replaced "Whatever You Like" at number one on the Hot 100, making T.I. the ninth artist to ever replace themselves at number one on the chart, The Beatles being the first band to achieved this fact back in 1964.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0imFW-LNFI&feature=related
33I Kissed A Girl - KATY PERRY
Hands down, the anthem of 2008 for being the song that will always be related to this fantastic year.
The thing that felt so wrong and at the same time it felt so right was to see a little 6 years old girl singing this song in the train during one of my early commutes last summer.
I wonder if a male version of this tune will ever make it to the #1 spot in more than 25 countries? Somehow I kissed a boy and I like it doesn't sounds mainstream to me.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAp9BKosZXs
32Wearing My Rolex - WILEY
This is how hip hop music should be made. "Here's my number-- she already knows it": Wiley's MC persona is often an icy, defensive control freak, so no surprise that his pop breakthrough is about the horror of losing that control. He's in a club, drunk, short-term memory starting to go: What's he been doing? Why is everything repeating itself? Who has he just given his tremendously expensive watch to? The music, built on a sample of DSK's house classic "What Would We Do?", is a tight electro loop, keyboards arcing woozily upward, perfectly capturing a night out on the brink of disintegration. "Rolex" birthed a dance craze, an answer record (Mz Bratt's "Wearing His Rolex"), and gave Wiley a top 3 UK hit, but beyond the novelty it's his befuddled paranoia that makes it so memorable.
Another euro-weird music video...
31
Forever - CHRIS BROWN
Forever feels like your eternal prom night anthem, the one that I wish I would had dance to during that special night of my life back in 1990. "Justify my love" by Madonna and "Ice Ice baby" by Vanilla Ice weren't the perfect choices.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2IExa2A198
30
The Man Who Can't Be Moved - THE SCRIPT
I'm still here papo. And I'm not moving...
http://cereghinology.blogspot.com/2008/09/man-who-cant-be-moved-im-not-moving.html29
Flashing Lights - KANYE WEST FT. DWELE
On Grand Theft Auto IV's Hot 97 clone, DJ Green Lantern introduces "Flashing Lights" as the song they won't stop playing even though you're sick of it. But "Flashing Lights" never really reached that level of ubiquity, possibly because of the way it nods toward Euro-club whoosh without ever quite committing to it.
The strobing synths and the house-thump drums are just slightly off, and the abiding mood is one of paranoid detachment, not ecstatic release.
The lyrics follow: When Kanye shows up to the club, he doesn't see pretty girls and free drinks; he sees the paparazzi (who, naturally, he hates "more than a Nazi.") He's kicking game to some girl, but he's never quite reaching her. "Flashing Lights" is a tweak on pop conventions evocative enough that its sticky bad feelings will linger on until we've all blessedly forgotten about, like, "Low".
http:/www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEccxPPwXmI
28
No One - ALICIA KEYS
Originally included in the Top 100 of 2007, No One became an massive hit all over the world during the last days of that year and the first months of 2008.
The song won Best Female R&B Vocal Performance and Best R&B Song at the 2008 Grammy Awards on February 10, 2008. During the ceremony, Keys performed it in a duet with John Mayer. "No One" is also the most listened song on U.S. radio of 2008 with 3.08 billion listeners.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktUSIJEiOug
27
Love Song - SARA BAREILLES
And talking about most played songs on the radio...Aren't you sick of this one?
This was definitely the most played song on the radios in 2008.
This is not your typical love song. In fact the tune was written in response to her record label Epic requesting that she write a "marketable love song."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MR5xv3pt7KI
26
Apologize TIMBALAND FT. ONE REPUBLIC
Another song included in the Top 100 of 2007.
Apologize was written by One Republic's frontman Ryan Tedder for the band's 2007 debut album Dreaming Out Loud. According to the band's MySpace site, the song "explores the personal pain of multiple relationships gone awry and the necessity of moving on". The song was the biggest radio airplay hit in the history of Top 40 radio in North America, with 10,331 plays in one week, until its record was broken by Leona Lewis's "Bleeding Love," which was also written by OneRepublic's Ryan Tedder.
The song charted strongly around the world, reaching number one in sixteen countries, including Australia, Austria, Germany, Italy, New Zealand, Sweden, Egypt, Turkey, and the Netherlands, as well as staying at number one for eight consecutive weeks on Billboard's Pop 100.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_3XRx8EnuI
By the end of 2008 Apologize was named the #1 song of the year in The European charts.
25
Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It) - BEYONCE
The sensational upbeat song was everybody's favorite during the last days of 2008 and Song of the Year for Rolling Stone magazine.
The best song from Beyoncé's misguided I Am…Sasha Fierce album is half "Get Me Bodies" half "Irreplaceable": a break-up song in going-out shoes. Maybe it wouldn't be as good without the video choreography-- and maybe Beyoncé's superstardom is able to will anything into a hit-- but credit goes to the song's agitated claps and ticks, to its purring keyboards hums and squiggles. Credit also goes to Beyonce's realization of a nearly universal desire-- to project ourselves onto a screen, even if that screen is a person (or persona). Her screen is called Sasha Fierce. Ours is called Beyoncé. Don't believe me? Just ask the hundreds of YouTube stars in heels and cut-up leotards.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VJFWH8vxcg
24
Little Bit - LYKKE LI
A shy-voiced Scandinavian pop songstress? Our hearts have been stolen before. With debut album Youth Novels and seamless live shows, Lykke Li showed she was for real, but it was "Little Bit" (originally from 2007's Little Bit EP) that suggested she could be more than another stranger in the night. If you haven't had your "I Think I Love You" moment with this song yet-- if maybe Li's vulnerable/eccentric persona reads too much like shtick for stoking feverish blogger-boy fantasies-- listen again. Producer Björn Yttling, of Peter Bjorn and John, does a lot with a little (bit): steel pan-like percussion, mandolin, a gently distorted beat. Li's voice, like a meaningful whisper in a mostly vacant room, completes the seduction.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dpzX916i00U
And for you I keep my legs apart
And forget about my tainted heart
And I will never ever be the first
To say it's still a Game over
I would do itPush a button
Pull a trigger
Climb a mountain
Jump off a cliffCause you know baby I love you
love you
A little bit
23
Bleeding Love - LEONA LEWIS
The best-selling single of 2007 in the United Kingdom became biggest selling single in America of 2008 according to Billboard. The track has sold 3,420,000 million digital downloads in the US.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sF84pIhP5UM
22
With You - CHRIS BROWN
There is something about the music of this song that makes me feel so emotional.
Chris Brown makes countless young fans swoon, but, until now, he has not yet released a top-notch romantic performance. With You is that performance. The lyrics may be a bit simplistic in the "you're everything, you make me swoon" style, but this sound is a great one for staring into your lover's eyes as you make your way across a darkened dance floor.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6HYimHlj4E
21
Skinny Love - BON IVER
Like "The Boss" with Nebraska, The story behind the creation of this album is my favorite of 2008.
After the breakup of a band, relationship, and bout with sickness, singer Justin Vernon left Raleigh and moved back to Wisconsin spending three months in his father's cabin in the woods of northern Wisconsin. He did not intend to write or record any music during the time but rather to recuperate from the events of the previous year. Eventually a record began to evolve during this cathartic time of isolation.
Vernon played all the instruments during recording and each song was heavily edited with a large number of overdubs. He wrote most of the lyrics for the album by recording a word-less melody and listening to the recording over and over and writing words according to the sound of the syllables of the melody.
The record was almost not released and was originally intended as a group of demos to be sent out to labels and potentially rerecorded. But after getting very encouraging reactions from a number his friends, Vernon decided to release the songs himself in their present state. After significant positive reception, helped by word of mouth and its popularity throughout the blogosphere, Vernon decided to sign to the indie label Jagjaguwar which subsequently gave the album a proper release.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UrMmr1oMPGA
For Emma, Forever Ago was received very well by critics and became one of the best albums of 2008.
20
Who's Gonna Save My Soul - GNARLS BARKLEY
The origin of this song was a 2006 James Brown concert in London, which the duo were offered the chance to attend by Brown's manager. However they were playing their own show the same night and the timing didn't work out, and the Godfather of Soul died a few months later.
Cee-Lo explained to Billboard: "It disappointed me so bad. It was almost like he was about to pass a torch to me. It's my assumption but that's also my aspiration. When I say, 'I lay my own soul down,' it's like, I will have to be my own hero. I will have to save my own soul. Therefore, it is very painful, but there's also a silver lining."
Danger Mouse added: "This song really showed that we had other places to go and things to do. We tried it a couple different ways, and each time it still had a really great impact."
19 TIE
I'm Yours - JASON MRAZ
His album We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things takes its title from a piece of art by Glasgow-based artist David Shrigley that Mraz saw in Scotland while traveling.
The Virginia-born singer-songwriter explained on his record label's website: "What I love about mankind is that yes, we sing and we celebrate and we dance when we're foolish and we steal things. It's hard to have a new idea in music, in fashion, the land we walk on. It's all recycled. I think to say we stole it is a lot more fun."
Shrigley, who is best known for his humorous cartoons was asked by Mraz to design the album art.
In I'm yours you can clearly hear the influence of the melodic sound of modern Scandinavian artists (check Espen Lind's music at #35 in the countdown).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65PwA6wmtI0
This popular o8' tune is about generosity. About giving yourself or your time to someone or something else
This Is The Life - AMY MCDONALD
"I saw Pete Doherty's first gig in Glasgow after he left Libertines. It was a great night - he did a little acoustic thing at the aftershow party too, and we got into that. Then me and my pals went back to someone's house and just sat, passing the guitar round, singing songs. It was a brilliant night. The next morning I wrote 'This Is The Life' about it, cause I realized, this is the life."
Amy McDonald
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6MRYLWJb1o
18
White Winter Hymnal - FLEET FOXES
Back in January, "White Winter Hymnal" was an intriguing and inviting introduction to the Seattle quintet, when they had just ridden a wave of MySpace success and signed with local label Sub Pop. Nearly a year later, it remains their perfect, triumphant moment, even after they've opened for Wilco, headlined their own tours to ever-larger audiences, and invaded the lower rungs of the Billboard album charts. Just over two minutes long, the song contains every element that would make their Sun Giant EP and self-titled full-length debut so entrancing: the intricate vocal arrangements highlighting their evocative harmonies, the way Sklyer Skjelset's clean guitar lines shadow Robin Pecknold's wordless vocals, the Edward Gorey imagery of the lyrics, the heartbeat tattoo of the floor tom. Its meaning may remain unclear even after so many listens-- something about the passage of seasons, which seems apt-- but its spell remains as strong as ever
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DrQRS40OKNE
17
Nude - RADIOHEAD
Physically released in the dawn of the first day 0f 2008, In Rainbows is considered one of the best albums of this new millenium. Radiohead is by far the best live act in the world right now and that's something that I experienced last summer during their performance in the first ALL POINTS WEST festival in New Jersey.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zxvsq-IluaA
"Nude" is one of many songs included in In Rainbows that were written in 1997 during the Ok Computer sessions. They have performed this song since the last 90's.
In April 2008 "Nude" became the first Radiohead song to chart on the Billboard Hot 100 since 1995's "High and Dry" and their most successful on the chart since 1992's "Creep".
16
Sex On Fire - KINGS OF LEON
The kings finally conquered!!
"Sex on Fire" gave Kings of Leon their first number one single in Australia, Ireland and United Kingdom, charting at the top-spot in the UK singles chart on digital downloads alone, before its physical release. It has also gained significant popularity in the United States, reaching #1 on the Hot Modern Rock Tracks chart and #56 on the Billboard Hot 100, making it their highest charting song in their homeland on both charts. Along with all of these achievements, in 2008, the song earned the band their first Grammy nominations; the song was nominated for Best Rock Song and Best Rock Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group. In addition, the album earned a nomination for Best Rock Album.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHhhcKxflMY
15
Sweet About Me - GABRIELA CILMI
Thanks to the use of this song for a deodorant commercial, Australian Gabriela Cilmi became an overnight sensation in the UK with Sweet about me.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ElY5Gr845Fw
"Sweet About Me" has that same hypnotic feel that a rocking boat has. I was listening to a lot of early psychedelic music around the time I wrote it. The songs saying that were all going to make mistakes, so we might as well have fun while were making them."
Gabriela Cilmi
The song reached #1 in Gabriella's native Australia. After dropping from the top spot, it returned to the premier position, knocking the Queen of Pop, Madonna, off from the chart peak. The 16-year-old became the youngest Australian artist to reach #1 in their home country, beating the record held by Australian Idol winner Casey Donovan by 19 days.
14
Blind (Frankie Knuckles Remix) - HERCULES AND LOVE AFFAIR
Hercules and Love Affair is a musical project of New York producer/DJ Andrew Butler. The band name was inspired by the mythic tale of Hercules' search for his male lover Hylas.
"Blind" was influenced by Yazoo's song "Situation," which was originally the B-side of their 1982 hit "Don't Go".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fb8S51M2GAc
Andrew Butler recalled to Mojo magazine February 2008 of how Yazoo's club-pop song was a formative experience when he first heard it as a ten-year-old:
"I'd force my parents to hear the cassette tapes I'd made up. I remember my mother once saying, in her straight, American Midwest way, 'I don't think you should be listening to this music, is this a man or a woman singing?' To which I replied (adopts whiny kid's voice), 'Why can't you just appreciate the beauty of the voice?' But I was as excited by the synth hook and the delay Vince Clarke put it all through as I was by Alison Moyet's singing."
Blind was considered the song of the year by many music critics and became 2008's disco music and gay domination undoubted high point thanks to its sturdy rhythm, infectious horn section, rumbling bassline, and an appropriately vampy vocal turn from Antony and the Johnson's diva Antony Hegarty (whose full-bodied belt, as it turns out, is perfectly suited for disco divadom)
The remix by the legendary Frankie Knuckles is simply infectous and gives a soulful feeling to the album version.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZ6sLFDUPWg
13 TIE
Fascination - ALPHABEAT
Last time that I remember been insanely hooked on a song from a swedish band was when Ace of Base was the "it" band of 1994.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3BOMhenAQcw
"Fascination" comes straight from a guidebook to great pop, its manicured and springloaded mid-1980s pop-rock groove falling somewhere between "Footloose" and Huey Lewis & the News, shot through with euphoric perkiness. "Passion is our passion," the punchably sincere boy/girl vocals squeal, before launching into skyscraping woah-ohs that light up like a garish shop display at Christmas.You'll love this song: no tune this year parades its pop craft so openly and gleefully, or puts so much on the line in the name of pure giddiness. Danish group Alphabeat know you want to hit them, but they don't flinch: They're confident that by the time they reach the end of their interminable but brilliant "The word is on your lips/ Say the word!" call and response, the hand that was raised to smack will have turned itself into an enthusiastic fist-pump.
Sandcastle Disco - SOLANGE
Sorry B, this year your lil' sista ended up in a higher position than your other songs (#46 and #25) in this music countdown. Love ya bitch!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCq71KGowNA
For an artist (still) looking for a big-moment star turn, Solange works within herself on "Sandcastle Disco", and her honey-lipped restraint is the strongest evidence yet that Solange is more permanent than her titular featherweight palaces. There's nothing wrong with big sis' rapturous declaration, "If you like it you should've put a ring on it," but Solange seems to understand that our relationship with her is still in the "if you like it" phase. So she sings soft and avoids uncouth innuendo, you know, keeps things ladylike. It's all very sweet.
This is my guilty pleasure song of 2008. It is so good and bad but it feels so good to dance to it and sing it specially if you found yourself all drunk up next to your favorite partner in crime on a late sunday night in Chelsea. By far my funniest moment of 2008. Good times Antweezle!!
12
Shut Up and Let Me Go - THE TING TINGS
Another great video of 2008.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8r23cm7bL9E
Katie White on how the song came to appear on the Apple's ad:
"Well what happened was that we played at SXSW and we were doing three gigs a day and I was exhausted, and I actually fainted before we were due to play for the Apple people. I managed to play three songs, then we heard that they were interested in using the song and they sent a contract through. But we weren't sure if they were sending it to twenty different bands, or just to us, or whatever. We only found out we were on the advertisement when we saw the ad on YouTube, after it had been on TV! Apparently it comes right down to Steve Jobs deciding, on the day, that he wants it on his TV ad. But until we saw it on YouTube we thought we'd lost it."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcGD9J3pEtU
11
L.E.S. Artistes - SANTOGOLD
With a synth-freaked production from Switch and echo-drenched patois, Santi White had to know her debut single, "Creator", would unleash a deluge of M.I.A. comparisons that could potentially dominate all discussion of her work from here on out. However, the upside to being saddled with that recurring reference point is that it freed her up to mine other sources with less critical scrutiny.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ciJDA0tcQfs
White's singular résumé-- former punk-rock singer, one-time major-label A&R rep, and current song-doctor to the stars-- lends her a unique perspective to analyze Lower East Side scensterism, and her lyrics ("I'm trying to build a wall," "I don't need no one else") could be read as both a declaration of independence or a critique on the exclusionary politics that come with it. But that ambiguity is crucial to the song's success: In giving the middle-finger to the too-cool-for-school set, White ended up giving them a new favorite song to belt out in hipster hangouts around the world.
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