T.O.T.P 2008

OK, so we usually don't do this because there's simply too much awesome stuff out there to narrow it down to a top ten, and, on top of that it's hard to compare things against eachother in such a broad way blah blah blah all the other problems there are with categorising things...anyway...we've put together a bit of a list of our current favourite tracks of 2008. Not definitive by any means and was whipped up pretty quickly based on what we're listening to right now, but just so you know where we're at with what's up there as our faves. So in no particular order...

1) Beck 'Gamma Ray'

Even though Beck's spiral into depression over the state of the world has hit new lows (only in terms of his mental state of course, his songs are still superb) he can still get an unmissable single and accompanying video clip out there. The song's a classic Beck crooner number and with interesting placement title lyrics over the chorus it's the unexpected lead single from the album. The video clip also has the most amazing use of black and white and overlaid images I've seen in a while. Who's depressed?

2) Last Shadow Puppets 'Standing Next to Me'

Although the first single from this album 'Age of the Understatement' is brilliant, and the accompanying video clip uses whimsical yet bleak Russian landscape coverage to perfection, it's Track Two that best encompasses the Scott Walker undertones that make this side project from Arctic Monkeys frontman so surprisingly restrained yet brilliant. Also check out 'Separate and Ever Deadly' and 'My Mistakes Were Made For You' and http://www.fluromag.com/ for a review of the full album.

3) Wolf Parade 'Call it a Ritual'

I think I used this in a roundup of the best new tracks I'd heard in a week a while ago, and I haven't changed my mind...still sojourning through the best Wolf Parade have to offer in terms of obscure time signatures and lyrical warbles, this is my favourite from their definitive second album 'At Mount Zoomer'.

4) These New Puritans 'Elvis'

This band rollicked into the minds of many a music creep at the end of last year when NME got hold of them and splashed them across several double page spreads. Hailing from the same dark depths in London as The Horrors and dressed equally as savvy, These New Puritans released their debut album 'Beat Pyramid' through Domino Records earlier this year and although there's a few ups and downs 'Elvis' is the standout track - apparently getting dancefloors and radio playlists alike going in Europe with its unstoppable beat and inescapable pulsating darkness.

5) Yeasayer 'Sunrise'

Apparently mates with TV on the Radio, these guys had avoided the media attention that surrounds their famous friends until they released album All Hour Cymbals. First track 'Sunrise' encompasses everything you'd expect from people in the TV on the Radio crew but feels more ritualistic in a way; whether its the accompanying apocalyptic artwork and the fact that the band are reasonably faceless or not, this is a great track and a definite listen for people who want to get all tribal on it.

6) Adam Green 'Morning after Midnight'

My boss won't let me play this at work because he describes it as 'Las Vegas strip club music'. Yeah it's Las Vegas strip club music. Isn't that what's always made Adam Green amazing for people that get his deal. He walks this really fine line between tragic crooner sleaze-fest and then adds ultimately disgusting yet ironically entertaining lyrics and nails it. 'Morning After Midnight' should be in a cabaret act (has he done a video for it yet?). Or in a strip club. Or maybe even in the dark depths of a cocktail bar. Success again for Mr. Green!

7) Albert Hammond Jnr. 'Rocket'

This album comes with an accompanying DVD which is super dreamy, and since I recieved the album about a week ago it honestly has seldomly been out of earshot. Hammond Jnr recreates the pop-rock The Strokes were in 2001 - and how often did you play 'Is This It'?

8) My Disco 'You Came To Me Like a Cancer Lain Dormant until it Blossomed like a Rose'

These guys, fullstop hands down, taught me to appreciate minimalist music. Read a full interview with them in the next print edition of FLURO magazine due out August 8th. Check http://www.fluromag.com/ for stockists. I'm not going to say any more now, but you should definitely read their thoughts - life changing.

9) Foals 'Two Steps Twice'

This track and a couple of others including the single 'Balloon' had been floating round on the internet and on various hard-to-get-ones-hands-on EP's and singles for a while before the band released Cassius. While the album was a step in a different and somewhat off-kilter direction this track is a dreamy finger-picking turned slow build up explosion.

10) MGMT 'Electric Feel'

Even though these guys are on everyone everwhere's blog or website or myspace or facebook or print edition as the most exciting band of the moment, it's hard not to love a couple of precocious youngsters who have refashioned '70's hippy ideals into a weird psychedelic-meets-homegrown 2008 revolution while singing about making shitloads of money and getting models for wives - which they assure you is in a purely ironic way. Electric Feel's just one of the standouts - why can't we all dance naked in the forrest to MGMT all the time?