remix owns on this one


#93.




Goldfrapp - "Ride a White Horse" / Serge Santiago Re-Edit

US Chart Position: n/a

UK Chart Position: #15

Drowned in Sound Review: "Oh, Goldfrapp. What happened? You made an uncommon, captivating dream-popera record, and we all sighed. You made a disco record, machinated with robotic erotica and blissed-out, retro euphoria, and we not only swooned, but marvelled at the ease with which you'd slipped 'cross genre boundaries. And then you released Supernature, and we slumped.

'Ride A White Horse' is symptomatic of everything that disappoints about present-day Goldfrapp. Alison's vocals slide sensuously down its spine while pin-prick beats pump away... it's all so competent and factual, step-by-step sex, so empty of the thrilling, bizarre spirit that put Goldfrapp head and shoulders above the competition.

It sounds like Madonna. Not dancing-round-burning-crucifixes Madonna or squeaking-pouting-Daddy's-girl Madonna, nor thrusting-her-chest-like-a-piston 'Ray Of Light' Madonna either. Not even the breathy, Erotica-era Madonna, Goldfrapp's sultry imitations of whom may have caused Oldfrapp's reputed ire towards them. No, 'Ride A White Horse' sounds like the conspicuously leotard-clad, somewhat eye-bleeding Madge who points her crotch persistently at us today. It's repetitive, reedy, namechecking a disco era that Goldfrapp have squeezed dry ...please, just stop, stop already. Move on - again. Goldfrapp's glistening, copulating robots have long since ceased production, replaced by a bored-sounding, chrome-clad human whose only concern is getting a timecard punched before leaving. Ugh. How disappointing. The DFA remix on its flipside performs better but still goes on far too long without making any real impact.

Alison Goldfrapp is undebatably one of the cleverest, most inventive musical forces to make a dent on the charts in recent years - thus, 'Ride A White Horse' is well below par. Can, and MUST, try harder." (4/10, ouch)

Artist's Previous Singles Ranking on Our Singles Lists: "Ooh La La" / Tiefschwartz Remix (#99 of 2005)

Ranked Highest By: Ben & Saskadelphia (#2)

Can Be Most Easily Found On: Supernature



normally I heed your forceful anti-sniping suggestions, and they rightfully put me in my place. But I'm feeling expressive today, so instead I'm just gonna say "deal with it, sweetums."

with respect.

Bill... aren't you supposed to pick, you know, positive reviews?

Can't argue with that.

Reminds me, I still have a few minutes (hours?) to come up with decent Spanish Techno zingers.

HOURS UPON HOURS, BIZNATCH

nah, just ones that I can find on Google in under 23 seconds

great great song, definitely would have expected higher, but dunno how many people actually heard it

Yeah I'm hearing it for the first time and it's really good. That whole girl group-era is one of my favourite eras in music, so I get annoyed by kitschy pastiches of it (*ahem* Pipettes), but this is really good. Not sure if it would've made my list, but it's nice. She sounds like Cyndi Lauper kind of.

#92.




The Strokes - "Heart in a Cage"

US Chart Position: #21 Modern Rock

UK Chart Position: #25

Pitchfork Track Review: " First mistake: They care. Somebody must have told Julian Casablancas and his white-lit chums that Room on Fire was too much like Is This It...with Cars!, and now the band's given up the whole cooler-than-poor-people act to say no, actually, they do fucking care. So we get guitarist Nick Valensi proving he can play guitar and Casablancas proving he can sing. Except Valensi's fussy scales come out all uptight butt-rock, and Casablancas's low-ranging vocals are Jim Morrison on "The Soft Parade", navigating shifting movements as drummer Fabrizio Moretti alternates proggy rhythms. There's a cage, a heart is beating in it, and even while "fucking around" Jules is feeling alienated. "See, I'm stuck in a city/ But I belong in a field," he croons. No, dude, you don't." (2/5)

Artist's Previous Rankings on Our Singles Lists: "Juicebox" (#16 of 2005), "The End Has No End" (#37 of 2004), "Reptilia" (Would've been #41 of 2004)

Ranked Highest By: Petey (#5)

Can Be Most Easily Found On: First Impressions of Earth

criminally low

boo mediocre third single from an album that came out last year

Or a different kind of stage.

IT'S MY DICK IN A CAGE

i like this added touch

#91.




Rogue Wave - "Publish My Love"

US Chart Position: n/a

UK Chart Position: n/a

All That She Surveys Blog Post: "I remember that my brother, as a small boy, got his head stuck between porch railings; I think my mother used butter to get him out.

This song is stuck like that."

Artist's Previous Rankings on Our Singles Lists: Technically n/a, but we voted "Publish My Love" as the #1 album track of last year, somewhat ironically

Ranked Highest By: UselessRocker (#9)

Can Be Most Easily Found On: Descended Like Vultures

Pitchfork gave it that glowing review, I posted the song in May, it's been a relatively buzz-worthy track among indie fans all year long (one of the busiest seeds I have going on oink)...it really surprises me more people here didn't take to it.

yeah, before people started voting it in our albums poll I could've sworn it came out late '05

song sucks regardless. WTF.

Man, you don't bring the funny that often, but that was totally worth the wait. Kudos.

Um, no. That was not funny at all.

Also this year's number one was strongly rumoured to be the second single from The Life Pursuit but never happened.

#90.




Sally Shapiro - "I'll Be By Your Side" / Club Mix

US Chart Position: n/a

UK Chart Position: n/a

Pitchfork Track Review: "If Sally Shapiro sounds tentative, it's because she never intended on singing. As the story goes, pal and fledgling Swedish producer Johan Agebjörn was so struck by Shapiro's demure caroling voice that he set to the studio and whipped this up specifically for her. A shimmery slice of disco with a chorus that would have killed at Eurovisions '81 through '86, "I'll Be By Your Side" (reputedly written in two hours) is such a distilled and convincing homage to italo's golden era that it takes real effort to come to terms with the fact it was actually recorded earlier this year.

Agebjörn's pinpoint synth stabs, 8-bit drums, and chilly, melodic breakdowns wheedle goosebumps, but ultimately it's Shapiro's barely-there choirgirl vocal that sells this as a mislaid pearl from the 45 bin in the attic. What does it say about us that it's so hard to believe someone could sound so unaffected in 2006? Lost classic, no-- just 25 years deferred." (4.5/5)

Ranked Highest By: fallingandlaughing (#6)

Can Be Most Easily Found On: nowhere yet, apparently

AlkalineDrown: 1

Obviously the final answer is here

Wow, I didn't expect Killer Mike to be so awesome. Song/rant owns.

Since when are you the funny police, sourpuss?

i know it shoulda been asked in the voting thread prior, but anyone know if The Changes - When I Wake was released as a single?

god i'm in love with that song lately

I faintly recall destroying him in some thread or other. Pay no attention.

Julian Casablancas picture = funny

caption below Julian Casablancas picture = not so much

#89.




Ratatat - "Wildcat"

US Chart Position: n/a

UK Chart Position: n/a

Pitchfork Track Review: "Ratatat's four-minute bursts of glitter and pyrotechnics can impel even the pithiest of writers to Spiro Agnew-caliber adjective abuse, and each adjective walks hand in hand with its foil. "Wildcat", a tensely chilled-out creeper, is no exception. It's concise and expansive, hard rock and hip hop, pop and prog, mechanical and lush. Subtle yet overstated: In case the title doesn't sufficiently establish the track's domain, fierce panther snarls periodically slash through the sleek pounce.

Of course, all this dense neon foliage comprises a dual image, sprawling city and untamed wilds equally teeming with life. Dreamy electro shimmers blur through the percussion's spitting rain; a flashy guitar lick stutters and weeps; rubber-band bass smartly stretches and retracts. Revving whooshes and echoing flutters puff up like turf under high-velocity turns. And that's just the first half, before a banner-waving synth lead and ripped funk rhythm crank up, and the jungle bursts into flames." (4/5)

Artist's Previous Rankings on Our Singles Lists: "Seventeen Years" (would've been #66 on our 2004 list)

Ranked Highest By: Nic (#3)

Can Be Most Easily Found On: Classics

Strokes fans = humorless.

It's not looking good for "Elmo's Wish".

That jungle cat sample really ought to get old, but it never does. Ratatat committed the same sin as Junior Boys this year: releasing an album "only" as good their debut, but not different/groundbreaking enough to reignite the flames of critical acclaim.

Some Girl does not enjoy the Futureheads. I do really like 'Heart in a Cage,' Goldfrapp and Madonna (not the 'Man with a Guitar edit' yuck, Benjamin). Asobi Seksu single is pretty but unfortunately I wasn't big on that album.

Hmm, I need a pair of Alison's sunglasses. Anything I wore when I was six, I'd glady wear again.

guilty as charged

No chance in hell. But I'm comfortable with my symbolic, wasted vote.

#88.


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CSS (Cansei de Ser Sexy) - "Alala"

US Chart Position: #21 Dance Sales (wow)

UK Chart Position: n/a

Drowned in Sound Review: "Do you remember when pop used to be sex and sex used to be so dirty? You’d be so hot for it that you could barely keep your hips apart; your eyes met but you felt like a wise man dumbstruck by a UFO. The way your breath pounded the walls and sweat was seaping down your back, only it’s their sweat that just flicked from your forehead onto the walls. This is ooooh-ah-ah-la-la, like a French virgin seducing you and making you feel as powerless as a six-year-old that’s clearly pissed itself in the playground. It’s a Brazilian supermodel who’s so sexy she doesn’t need to do anything more to please herself than tease mankind.

CSS are putting the geeks back on the dancefloor in ways previously reserved for Daft Punk. They’re putting clever smart-bombs back on the radio and making the most of Goldfrapp, The Go! Team and other-bands-not-beginning-with-G greasing the door hinges and leaving the world primed to get down and throw their hands in the air. This is a real, true, proper sensation, not some one-night fad. In short...

Dear Sub Pop, we hate you. We can’t stop dancing and I just broke the repeat button on my Discman. You utter bastards. Now, please, leave us alone - I'm knackered and need a good lie down. " (9/10)

Ranked Highest By: Rob (#3)

Can Be Most Easily Found On: Cansei de Ser Sexy



#87.




The Klaxons - "Gravity's Rainbow" / "The Bouncer"

US Chart Position: n/a

UK Chart Position: n/a (Kicks Like a Mule's "Bouncer" charted at #7 in '92, though)

Pitchfork Track Review: "Klaxons' pretense is far more interesting than they're letting on with "Gravity's Rainbow", their first U.S. single after a run of UK hype. Repping for KLF (who repped for Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson [who repped for Thomas Pynchon]), these Burroughs-named Londoners rocketed to relative fame via NME's specious tag as the "new rave." If you try, you might hear the pace and rhythm of the Prodigy's "One Love", but mostly the song's just hypertensive Bloc Party with forlorn lyrics giving this modern love a half-life of infinity. Drums hurtle, guitars thrust, voices soar, etc. Something about a "Madcap Medusa" and a "rubix groom hoom" too. Not a bad plan to drop New Order in favor of retro-futurism, I'm just not sure it needs its own genre just yet." (3/5, lame)

Ranked Highest By: Animals and Men & No Magnets (#6)

Can Be Most Easily Found On: Xan Valleys EP

C'mon people. Fast replies don't type themselves.

Oh, that reminds me to y-s-i the new kitsuné Maison compilation. kitsuné <3

3 tracks on NME's 2006 singles list = near 100% guarantee they'll win album of the year 2007.

#86.




Beyonce f/ Bun B. & Slim Thug - "Check On It"

US Chart Position: #1

UK Chart Position: #3

Pitchfork Track Review: "B, which is what we call her, doesn't need much for liftoff in a post-DC America. But we already knew that. In the control booth, Swizz Beatz lays out the typical: stutter-snares, gladhanding Korg Triton keyboards, amusing-if-slight rapper cameo, gaping holes for melody. Then the chorus throws a haymaker: "Check up on it!" simulacra flitter and dance all over the track while we nod and observe simple pop intensity.

For all the credit Rodney Jerkins and Kevin "Shek'speare" Briggs get for their songwriting genius...I dunno, those guys just produce. The Knowles Family delivers. They deliver clever, intricate, deliberate popular music ripe with sentiment, but not lacking in good humor. I mean, dudes are always checking on Beyonce; seems honest enough for me. But she never gives up too much of herself: "Dip it, pop it, twerk it, stop it-- check on me tonight." Not "pull my hair and smack it tonight." Just "check on it"-- make sure it works for all of us." (3.5/5)

Ranked Highest By: Midnite Vulture (#13) (though he apparently voted for some remix of the track that I forgot to track down, whoops)

Can Be Most Easily Found On: #1's

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tickle me emo

#85.




Jarvis Cocker - "Running the World"

US Chart Position: n/a

UK Chart Position: n/a

Pitchfork Track Review: "Live 8 inspired Cocker to pen this song, originally titled "Cunts Are Still Running the World"-- one year later, it's still depressingly accurate. It is, however, incredibly refreshing to hear someone just lay it out in such plain, profane terms: "Well did you hear there's a natural order?/ those most deserving will end up with the most/ that the cream cannot help but always rise up to the top/ well I say, shit floats." The title refrain basically bans itself from radio, but it's catchy enough to stay with you after just one listen. Jarvis' message: "In theory, I respect your right to exist/ but I'll kill you if you move in next to me." The overall pessimism here is strangely poignant, and one supposes it'll only get more poignant as the world's problems drag on.

There is some music to this thing, of course-- it sounds a lot like Pulp, actually. Big keyboards, stirring chorus (melodically at least), well-placed guitar doodles, and a semi-hilarious choir of vocoders that takes over the refrain after the second chorus. It could have easily been tossed off, but instead, Cocker's given us a great song with a reminder that the work of improving the world never ends." (4/5)

Ranked Highest By: Scarymuppet Attacks! (#1)

Can Be Most Easily Found On: nowhere

Is that the 320kb rip from my comp?

and it's a hidden track on Jarvis [/pedant corner]

no, think I got a new one

haha.

forgot to vote for this one.

"Check On It" is like the worst Beyonce single this year! And it's been around since last year!

um, yes please.

I can't tell if that "Alala" video is better than the one where they beat the shit out of each other.

it's not.