David H’s Top Five Songs of 2015
2015’s been pretty decent for music, yeah?
Year-end lists are a proper tricky prospect I always think, especially if, like me, your favourite things fluctuate on a daily (hourly) basis. So I tried to write this list down as often as I could over 24 hours and see if the same songs cropped up, the five that appeared the most would come together to make my Top 5 List. A load of tally charts, simple, like being back in Year 9 maths class or whatever.
Skepta – ‘Shutdown‘
Huge. No other word for it really. A 3 minute, visceral catapult which shot Skepta, and grime in general into the wide public perception. ‘Shutdown’ is now a national catchphrase, whether that’s a good thing or not is up to your preference, but that song that birthed it is still as exciting now as it was on first listen.
Kate Tempest – ‘Europe is Lost‘
This is pretty brand new, but I’ve been losing myself over it constantly since my first listen. It is a real, raw portrait of the society we live in, and is absolutely full of the intelligent wordplay that Tempest has come to be known for. One, brilliant description of the song is ‘unapologetically audacious’. Next time you listen to it, get the lyrics up on screen and follow them through. There are ferocious shots aimed at politics, big business and society all over a stark, driving beat.
Peace – ‘Perfect Skin‘
I love Peace. Feel good, flamboyant, happy indie rock is always underrated in its power and place in the world. Their new album ‘Happy People’ is one of the year’s best records, with pop songs that many top selling artists would be envious of. ‘Perfect Skin‘ is the best of them – it’s teenage, hormonal issues turned up to the maximum, with one of the years catchiest choruses.
Foals – ‘London Thunder’
My favourite songs by Foals are those which start off with nothing then build into epics; ‘Spanish Sahara‘, ‘Late Night‘, ‘A Knife In The Ocean‘. ‘London Thunder‘ kind of bridges the gap between that side of the band and the pop/ rock/funk of songs like ‘Mountain At My Gates‘, ‘My Number‘ and ‘Miami‘. Yannis’ voice takes centre stage as he howls through a tale of loneliness, travel, missing home and isolation.
Kanye West – ‘All Day‘
That Brit Awards performance seems years ago doesn’t it? Nearly didn’t include ‘All Day‘ as I thought it had come out last year. But without ‘All Day‘, and without Kanye, would Skepta and the UK grime scene have got the attention it did (and deserved) this year? Carrying on the industrial sonic-scapes of ‘Yeezus‘, with the seemingly re-ignited love for rap hip-hop; Kanye rapping mercilessly over a heavy, formidable beat meaning that ‘All Day‘ served as an exciting taster of the long awaited new Kanye album.
As I mentioned, this list changed numerous times over the course of writing the article, it’s actually changed again twice while I have been re-reading through it. So I have to give some shouts outs to the songs that nearly made it:
The Ordinary Boys – ‘Four Letter Word‘
Mumford and Sons – ‘Tompkins Square Park‘
Bring Me The Horizon – ‘Throne‘
Foals – ‘What Went Down‘
Florence and The Machine – ‘St Jude‘
