My songs of 2013

Here are some of the songs that have been released in 2013 that I have particularly enjoyed. I hope you do too.

There are tens of thousands of songs that have been released this year that I haven't heard. If you have any songs you think I should check out then please tweet me. You'll get an idea of my taste from below.

I've probably forgotten a couple, but here we go...

I Am The One by Chris Grant
Absolutely beautiful song. Number one in another universe. You can imagine people wetting themselves if Chris Martin had written it. Not on YouTube as yet.

Reflektor by Arcade Fire
The kind of music you want from one of the biggest bands in the world in the year 2013. Produced by James Murphy and featuring backing vocals by Bowie - ambitious in sound, texture and performance.

Too Bad (That's Sad) by Edwyn Collins
Northern Soul style stomper that had me hooked on first listen. Collins ABC show in the spring was a delight.

Royals by Lorde
Original and exceptional. The production on this is simply exquisite, the lyrics and melody sublime.

Will You Love Me by Matthew E White
Big Inner floored me when it was released back in January, it is such a warm and gorgeous album. This is lazily lovely.

Honey by TeenCanteen
'Honey' combines Spector with the Velvets and C86 indie to make everyone smile.

Get Lucky by Daft Punk
Quite enough has been written about this song. Great though!

Forever by Vigo Thieves
The 'Heart and Soul Pt II' EP was incredible, all 3 songs off it are in my songs of the year. 'Forever' remains my favourite as it just soars to places other bands can only dream of reaching.

Giorgio by Moroder by Daft Punk
The synths and the groove in this song when it kicks in are glorious.

Stoned and Starving by Parquet Courts
Raw catchy punky guitar pop a-la The Strokes circa 'Is This It'. In fact it is even rawer.

Foresight by Nevada Base
Slightly deranged sounding synths, tribal drums start the song before funky bass kicks in and the lyrics and vocals sound paranoid. 'all the science that we know will be in vain'.

The Stars Are Out Tonight by David Bowie
A mighty return from Bowie. This was a standout for me.

It Starts And Ends With You by Suede
Suede returned in magnificent fashion with this single, up with their best work. Their show at the Barrowland in October was nothing short of sensational.

Check My Heart by The Pastels
Glorious warm summery guitar pop with a video to match.

He Took You in His Arms by Bill Ryder-Jones
From a rather gorgeous album. This is all kinds of dreamy goodness.

2013 by Primal Scream
Sounding as vital as anything they have ever produced.

Strong by London Grammar
Just beautiful.

Summer Rain by The Pastels
Slow Summits by The Pastels is one of my albums of 2013. They sound more comfortable with themselves and their music than most artists. This is just pure Pastel-ism.

The Mother We Share by Chvrches
2013 was quite a year for Chvrches. This is just superb, crystal clear production, nice hooks in the verses and a chorus that flows superbly. Synths are beautiful.

Sore Tummy by Paws featuring Alice Costelloe
I wish Paws would write more stuff like this. Catchy as f**k.

One Of These Days by Matthew E White
'Big Inner' is an album that I will return to for a long time, songs like this are the reason. A special talent.

Big Love by Matthew E White
The song that introduced me to the talented Mr White. Echoes of the Beta Band. A real groove.

Stroh 80 by Casual Sex
The debut single by the Glasgow band is pure pop with echoes of Orange Juice and Franz Ferdinand. A delight.

It's You by Chris Grant
Grant's album is stunning, it really hasn't received the press it deserves. Just listen to this for a love song. Beautiful.

24 Hours (Night Time My Time)
My friend Craig introduced me to Sky Ferreira last year and to this song just last week. It is brilliant pop music that you can just escape into. '24-hours we still have time, 24-hours you're still mine' the chorus flows superbly.

The Perfect Life by Moby with Wayne Coyne
Moby cutting about with Wayne from Flaming Lips dressed up as Mexicans on LSD? That caught my attention. The song is brilliant too!

Kingdom of Wires by Kevin Harper
The title track of Kevin's debut solo album is brilliant. Building slowly and movingly into crashing guitars. Link HERE as for some reason I can't post the video on here.

I Love It by Icona Pop featuring Charlie XCX
Released in 2012 but I only discovered it this year and it was everywhere. Absolutely incredible joyful punky pop.

Thursday by Pet Shop Boys
Pet Shop Boys are still creating brilliant pop music.

Best Song Ever - One Direction
OK take the piss if you like, but I think this is brilliant pop music. A 2013 update on The Beatles 'I Saw Her Standing There' taking in a bit of The Who along the way, just full of great hooks. And how many songwriters kicked themselves for not nabbing that title first?

Fade Into You by J Mascis
J Mascis from Dinosaur Jr covers this classic from Mazzy Star. Suitably dreamy and gorgeous.

We Sink by Chvrches
My fave from their debut album. Pop with a raw edge.

Baby Blue by Badfinger

OK this was released a long time ago, but it received the kiss of life courtesy of the series finale of Breaking Bad - perfect choice.

You've Got Me Wondering Now - Parquet Courts
I'm squeezing another one in for Parquet Courts as this is just brilliant, raw and catchy sounding like they just don't give a fuck. 'I thought I knew a thing or two about the blues but you've got me wondering now.'

My top blogs and stats

So people do read my blogs! Well some of them anyway!

Here are my top 10 blogs since i started, I don't tend to check views so I was pleasantly surprised when i did tonight!

Posts

Entry	Pageviews
The Man In Blue - Definitive Daft Punk 15 May 2011, 1 comment	6500
2012 - the year of Hot Chip? 30 Jan 2012	6087
18-years since Definitely Maybe by Oasis 30 Aug 2012	4144
Echo and the Bunnymen - Glasgow Royal Concert Hall... 28 Sep 2011, 10 comments	1423
Stone Roses, Heaton Park, Manchester, Sunday 1st J... 3 Jul 2012	1028
Churches, Art School, Glasgow, 5th July 2012 6 Jul 2012, 2 comments	979
Screamadelica - 20 years on 27 Feb 2011, 1 comment	917
Serious Drugs - A film about the BMX Bandits 12 Dec 2011	822
Belle and Sebastian, Glasgow Barrowlands, December... 22 Dec 2010, 1 comment	812
Introducing TeenCanteen 20 Jun 2012	812

Churches, Art School, Glasgow, 5th July 2012

Last night I headed into town for what some were describing as 'the hottest gig in Glasgow since Franz Ferdinand'. It was certainly hot in the basement of the Art School - to sauna like proportions. The gig in question was the 'debut' gig by the band Churches.


There was a real sense of anticipation in the crowd in the build up to the band taking the stage at 9.30pm, quite incredible considering they have only made one song available online, they certainly have a lot more up their sleeves. You can check out 'Lies' via the bands soundcloud page. It has already amassed over 15,000 plays at the time of writing, largely thanks to being featured on The Guardian's New Band of the Day feature.

The band consist of Iain Cook, Martin Doherty and the pop pixie princess Lauren Mayberry. All have been in bands previously (Aerogramme, Twilight Sad and Blue Sky Archives) (or still are), quite how long they stay in them is another question all together.


Churches (brilliant name - why has no-one thought of that before) have clearly been hard at work in the studio and their management have clearly working contacts and a and r all over. The guestlist for the gig well outnumbered the amount of actual tickets on sale, this was a showcase.


Being a showcase, the band showed off their skills to the delight of the inquisitive crowd. The opening song was an absolute gem, total pop that Kylie would be delighted to snap up. The sound was crystal clear, the best I have heard in the Art School, the bands decision to hire the venue out the day before to perfect the sound certainly paid off. Lauren's vocals were excellent and she looked the part with glitter and facepaint down one side of her face, younger bloggers would probably say Marina and the Diamonds, I would say Ziggy Stardust.

Photo lifted from the Popcop's facebook page - thanks

I usually write a review after seeing a band. Truth be told that from the back of the crowd I could barely see a thing other than the bobbing of heads and the occasional glimpse of Lauren when she stepped up on to the monitors at the front.


The second song was also a belter, apologies for not knowing the names of them. The band, or Lauren, barely spoke on stage, communicating through their well crafted and polished pop. Lauren did thank everyone for coming and say 'we're not shit'. Which was a bit of an understatement. The lighting glimmered in time with the music, it wasn't just the music that was polished, it was the all round show and experience.

Influences - well pop music in all shapes and forms, from the pure pop of (modern) Kylie and her bank of songwriters and producers to the likes of Grimes and at times I heard a little bit of Liz Fraser and the Cocteau Twins in there.

pic lifted from twitter

I think I can safely say that I will be featuring Churches again on this blog and I am sure that you will hear a lot about them. 


5 things I like about Churches;

1. The name - conjuring up images of people coming together, singing together and in this case; rejoicing in pop
2. The sound - I love pop music in all shapes and forms. So do Churches. Last nights show highlighted that they have more than a few hit singles in the making. Soaring and epic synths and keyboards, this is pop made for the radio but with enough of a twist to appeal to the more left-field indie crowd as well. 
3. Lauren Mayberry - a pixie pop princess in the making, looking good, sounding good and sassy with it. 
4. The management - as a 'budding' manager myself I really admire the way the band and management have gone about this, building that sense of anticipation, keeping quite a bit back but releasing enough to gain interest and curiosity.
5. They confidence - They pulled it off last night. It isn't easy by any manner of means to get people up from London and the Scottish music crowd eating out of your hand. Churches did that and they didn't let them down.