Twenty Repeating Songs
Twenty Songs, 21st May 2006
Great. Windows Media Player has just hung on me, meaning I can't actually listen to any of the songs while talking about them. Well, no, I can, except I can only listen to the number one in the chart which is a bit pointless since I tend to go from bottom to top. However, it is a good, well compiled chart this week so I'm sure I'll manage.
It was a well contested chart as well, not least because the artists that were in there all wanted to contribute three and four times, the limiting to two was purely so that I could fit more than five artists on. Starting with Thee More Shallows, who cropped up on the Public Service Broadcast album and are here with the lead track of an EP of theirs we picked up, randomly, in HMV. An interesting song which has definitely grown on me. Bearsuit are next up, possibly because this week we re-wrote the Team Ping Pong review, definitely because they're just ace.
Zongamin is also here because we've been listening to his album a lot, wondering where he is while his remixes keep coming. The Aliens' Robot Man was reviewed this week and has just the greatest video of nonsense ever while Infinite Livez's White Wee Wee is just clearly nonsense. Genuinely, an ode to ejacule, it is actually really good, which is part of the dichotomy of Mr Livez in general. As part of our Aphex Twin dedication this week Squarepusher's awesome let the bass kick moment Come On My Selector crops up lower down although we could've included a couple from Big Loada to be fair. The Fratellis indiefy things again and are still in the chart for no reason other than association, but it is a fun songs so I'll let it by.
From this point we start the duplication in earnest. Mystery Jets are at both twelve and nine with remixes by Vicarious Joy and Justice respectively. Justice's remix is a lovely little thing but took us a bit of time to get into, Vicarious Joy's is a much more immediate fix though still riotous. This Et Al are the next solo entry, with Sabbatical still riding high and, erm, out tomorrow folks. Don't forget it.
That's it for the rest of the chart. Everyone else in the top eleven also appears in the top five. In the top five, then, we find, all alone, Tunng with yet another remix. This time its the fantastic Vive Voca remix of Woodcat, all liquid guitar and brass section, adding oomph to a single that sounds awfully like an album track.
Into the top four and the second appearance of Hampshire's Elle Milano with their breakthrough song, Swearing's For Art Students, an incedinary little number that brims with potential. Lower down they also contributed Men Are Bastards, although it is only really these two tracks on the EP that really make a statement. A hot prospect but certainly one that need a little longer in the oven.
AFX, aka Richard D James, aka Caustic Window, aka Aphex Twin etc etc also makes his second appearance on the chart with Reunion 2, one of the many stunning acid tinged breakbeat tracks on the Chosen Lords album. It is coupled, lower down, with Mt. Saint Michel Mix+St. Micheals Mount, the wonderfully unhinged - in name and sound - spastic drum 'n' bass number from the infinitely more hit and miss LP Druqks.
Into the top two and it was a hard choice. Fujiya & Miyagi's album was the more overall life affirming of the two big names this week (both starting with F, both featuring punctuation - how rare) but the standout track of the week belonged elsewhere. However, Fujiya contributed the more tracks to the chart, with Photocopier, Ankle Injuries and Sucker Punch all in the top ten. Sucker Punch won out due to being the more instant of the tracks but even with the tempo and timbe turned down Fujiya are still a potent force.
Which leaves the second contribution this week from the mighty ¡Forward, Russia! at the top. Sixteen is a perfect example of what they do best. Experimental and leftfield song structure and idyiosyncratic lyrical content married perfectly to a song you can sing along to. Lower down they also gave us Thirteen, partly in as a show of good faith - as much as the version of Thirteen on Give Me A Wall was the real disappointment of the album it should also be noted it is still, even if that guise, a fantastic track - but mostly because, well, it's a fantastic track. To be honest, it's an album of towering greatness but one that shows frailties in the ¡Forward, Russia! sound that mean, in theory, they'll just get better. To be honest, that perhaps makes it even more special. Watch that space.
Great. Windows Media Player has just hung on me, meaning I can't actually listen to any of the songs while talking about them. Well, no, I can, except I can only listen to the number one in the chart which is a bit pointless since I tend to go from bottom to top. However, it is a good, well compiled chart this week so I'm sure I'll manage.
It was a well contested chart as well, not least because the artists that were in there all wanted to contribute three and four times, the limiting to two was purely so that I could fit more than five artists on. Starting with Thee More Shallows, who cropped up on the Public Service Broadcast album and are here with the lead track of an EP of theirs we picked up, randomly, in HMV. An interesting song which has definitely grown on me. Bearsuit are next up, possibly because this week we re-wrote the Team Ping Pong review, definitely because they're just ace.
Zongamin is also here because we've been listening to his album a lot, wondering where he is while his remixes keep coming. The Aliens' Robot Man was reviewed this week and has just the greatest video of nonsense ever while Infinite Livez's White Wee Wee is just clearly nonsense. Genuinely, an ode to ejacule, it is actually really good, which is part of the dichotomy of Mr Livez in general. As part of our Aphex Twin dedication this week Squarepusher's awesome let the bass kick moment Come On My Selector crops up lower down although we could've included a couple from Big Loada to be fair. The Fratellis indiefy things again and are still in the chart for no reason other than association, but it is a fun songs so I'll let it by.
From this point we start the duplication in earnest. Mystery Jets are at both twelve and nine with remixes by Vicarious Joy and Justice respectively. Justice's remix is a lovely little thing but took us a bit of time to get into, Vicarious Joy's is a much more immediate fix though still riotous. This Et Al are the next solo entry, with Sabbatical still riding high and, erm, out tomorrow folks. Don't forget it.
That's it for the rest of the chart. Everyone else in the top eleven also appears in the top five. In the top five, then, we find, all alone, Tunng with yet another remix. This time its the fantastic Vive Voca remix of Woodcat, all liquid guitar and brass section, adding oomph to a single that sounds awfully like an album track.
Into the top four and the second appearance of Hampshire's Elle Milano with their breakthrough song, Swearing's For Art Students, an incedinary little number that brims with potential. Lower down they also contributed Men Are Bastards, although it is only really these two tracks on the EP that really make a statement. A hot prospect but certainly one that need a little longer in the oven.
AFX, aka Richard D James, aka Caustic Window, aka Aphex Twin etc etc also makes his second appearance on the chart with Reunion 2, one of the many stunning acid tinged breakbeat tracks on the Chosen Lords album. It is coupled, lower down, with Mt. Saint Michel Mix+St. Micheals Mount, the wonderfully unhinged - in name and sound - spastic drum 'n' bass number from the infinitely more hit and miss LP Druqks.
Into the top two and it was a hard choice. Fujiya & Miyagi's album was the more overall life affirming of the two big names this week (both starting with F, both featuring punctuation - how rare) but the standout track of the week belonged elsewhere. However, Fujiya contributed the more tracks to the chart, with Photocopier, Ankle Injuries and Sucker Punch all in the top ten. Sucker Punch won out due to being the more instant of the tracks but even with the tempo and timbe turned down Fujiya are still a potent force.
Which leaves the second contribution this week from the mighty ¡Forward, Russia! at the top. Sixteen is a perfect example of what they do best. Experimental and leftfield song structure and idyiosyncratic lyrical content married perfectly to a song you can sing along to. Lower down they also gave us Thirteen, partly in as a show of good faith - as much as the version of Thirteen on Give Me A Wall was the real disappointment of the album it should also be noted it is still, even if that guise, a fantastic track - but mostly because, well, it's a fantastic track. To be honest, it's an album of towering greatness but one that shows frailties in the ¡Forward, Russia! sound that mean, in theory, they'll just get better. To be honest, that perhaps makes it even more special. Watch that space.