Jukebox: Tracks of 2011

Another year, another list. As 2011 draws to a close, it's time again to take a look back at the tracks that really stood out from the masses. And here they are. 

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Labrinth – Earthquake (feat. Tinie Tempah)

In terms of mindless, unassuming fun, nobody produced a polished urban pop hit of the same magnitude as Labrinth this year. On a meaty set of speakers, Earthquake really will make the planet shake. Probably the best club hit in recent memory, the chances that you haven't heard this are slimmer than Kyle Falconer's jeans.

Listen here.

Jay-Z & Kanye West - Gotta Have It

The most surprising thing about Watch the Throne is that it took this long to happen. The men are like peanut butter and jam, gin and tonic, or hookers and cocaine - they just belong together. They share this contradictory attitude to material wealth which borders on the ridiculous. Being equally happy to spend tens of thousands of dollars on a sample, and then spend four minutes rapping over it about the simple lives they want for their children (New Day); right after this punchy number, smacks of the kind of narcissism that's usually impossible to stomach. Gotta Have It is violently selfish. In it, J and K manage to transcend consumerism, operating with this impossible, almost imperialistic need to drink the world dry. Galactus listens to this song and feels like an altruist.

Listen here.

Friendly Fires - Helpless

Friendly Fires have made larger strides in pop than most, but took quite a risk with their sophomore album, Pala. Their self-titled debut was glorious, for the most part, thanks to vocalist Ed MacFarlane's rousing voice, but also for the hints of exoticism tucked beneath the songwriting. Taking those undertones, and basically constructing a whole LP from them was brave, and brilliant. Again, mostly. Helpless is actually the exception, bar a few bars at the end, being mostly concerned with crooning 'helpless' over a rent-a-synth chorus. In the best possible way. 

Listen here.

Rizzle Kicks - Dreamers

Starting up the debut from Brit-hop duo Rizzle Kicks, you wouldn't be clinically deranged to assume their defining thought in the studio was, 'Cat Empire are cool, let's do something exactly like that'. But then album opener Dreamers fizzles out in a flash of ecstatic, jazzed-up beat wizardry, and they delve into literally everything else. Sure it's hip-hop, but there's such a wide-eyed approach to backing in Stereotypical that it's hard to care about their lyrics, which are suitably inane. Never has so much fun been had by so few.

Listen here.

Lana Del Rey - Video Games

As an entirely label-moulded personality, Lana is quite unique. Styled as a pin-up beauty with a baroque pop sound, there's a charm to her whole act which really sets her apart. And there's no doubt she's got the voice to match it, Video Games is an powerful ode to devotion, channeling the essence of Americana and a demanding need to be loved. 

Listen here.

Theophilus London – Love Is Real

Theophilus has become the latest poster boy of Brooklyn hipster-hop. With an interest bordering on obsession with The Smiths, he ticks all the right genre-bending boxes, and his first real LP (Timez Are Weird There Days) after a multitude of mixtapes has become a bit of a Music section favourite at Redbrick this year. We’re still waiting on a collaboration with Nicki Minaj to make all our pipedreams come true though, Theo. Just sayin'. 

Listen here.

Washed Out – Amor Fati

2011 was the year chillwave died. Toro Y Moi went all disco on us, Neon Indian’s sophomore LP didn’t emerge, and Ernest Greene, aka, Washed Out, decided he’d rather write songs about the politics of love than getting high on a sunny day. His debut Within and Without is still astonishingly lovely, like a slowed down, synth-heavy cutting from Bloc Party’s Intimacy, but it’s got that all-important soothing influence that made the Life of Leisure and High Times EPs such a joy.
Listen here.

Active Child – You Are All I See

I can’t recommend Active Child enough. I’m In Your Church At Night was one of the sleeper-hits of last year, and his unique formula of choral synth-pop is all the more refined on his debut of this year. Its titular opener You Are All I See is a thing of wondrous beauty. There’s something deeply touching about it, but at the same time, with it's heartwarming harps and raining bells, it's distinctly festive.

Listen here.