thirty four.
AGNELLI & NELSON//Holding On To Nothing



sounds like.
Hearts pounding against one another.

it's here because.
It's here because it's one of the best vocal dance tracks ever produced, that's why. Decidedly mainstream but still with an edge. It's like being chased by a rabid dog who wants to spike all your drinks and get you into a dodgy club somewhere in Brixton. Plus I have to remember to get some electronic that doesn't quite crack the top 25 out of the way before soldering on.

I haven't planned this out that well, see.

thirty three.
RADIOHEAD//Nice Dream



sounds like.
Morning walks in the park.

it's here because.
Might as well get started on Radiohead - a band I sometimes lie awake thinking about. Beyond the fanboy choice of Depeche Mode and even beyond the official answer - the importance choice of The Beatles - these five unassuming lads from Oxford probably have the best band ever to walk the earth. Go on then, whose better. They change, challenge destroy and rebuild rocknroll all at once with a wry smile as if y'know ... they're just messing about with a children's toy.

The Bends have all their first important moments and this one is a corker. It's got that Radiohead hallmark of going from a quite blissed out sound to suddenly turning on you as if you poked it too much by daring to continue listening. A ripe fruit that bears endless repeat listening and an early career highlight.

thirty two.
TOOL//Sober



sounds like.
A horror ride withdrawal.

it's here because.
A lot of bands advertise themselves as downbeat and a lot more get perceived as downbeat but whereas in many cases this is frivolous to the often quite catchy, smiles-behind-the-madness sound pallet offered up, Tool actually do sound like they mean it. They're definitely not happy about something and even though I enjoy them so it does vaguely seem whilst listening like I'm being reprimanded for my choices. Chastised for my sins.

The downtuned guitars are reminiscent of grunge meeting industrial on a park bench circa 1992 but Tool really is Maynard James Keenan. A name like a suspect from a Thomas Harris book and one of rocknroll's finest vocals to boot. He manages to scream ... quietly.

Brilliantly haunting and other such superlatives.

thirty one
GRIMES//Oblivion



sounds like.
The future.

it's here because.
Reservations about putting a relatively young and unabashedly hipster tune on the chart? Fuck all, really.

Grimes floats in your ears like some sonic ghost and refuses to leave, lighting up your optimism for how good music today can sound and validating a largely post rock world where ethereal, majestic sounds can be arranged in a studio using apple macs and minikorgs.

Terrific.

thirty.
EMINEM//Stan



sounds like.
Every twelve year old's bedroom at the turn of the century.

it's here because.
Still hit and miss king Eminem's finest moment by a very large stretch. Even Dido is used to great effect in it and if you're still not sold on the big D well the video provides her getting driven into a lake for your amusement.

Eminem's delivery alternating between the two characters in this song is spot on from the neurotic, troubled Stan to the composed Professor Eminem answering his fan mail. The subject matter is *sigh* haunting as well and really it's just a great concept song. Concept rap.

The groove that underpins the whole thing is the real attraction though. That droning, hypnotic bass over the relaxed, trip-hop-on-ambien beat is mesmerizing all these years on.

HONORABLE MENTIONS
THE RASMUS//Guilty



Fer A.C 5 days ago
in your way, what makes a man seems masculine? a ridiculous amount of muscles? a face with a beard? c'mon he's ****ing sexy and hot!!! his voice, feelings, personality and talent makes him more man than anyone :D


GUILTY WOAHOOOOOOOOOWHOAWHOA. Who remembers The Rasmus? You remember In The Shadows, I know that. Forget that. You never heard it. Guilty is the lynchpin of these Finnish beasts delicious back catalogue of sexually frustrated, boundary crossing, barrier breaking smash hits.

Whilst most people were busy figuring out why the lead singer always had feathers in his hair I was preoccupied with why the drummer looked a bit like the old Mr. Muscle.

http://i105.piczo.com/view/3/e/a/f/e...34_76170_6.jpghttp://i105.piczo.com/view/3/e/a/f/e...34_76170_6.jpghttp://i105.piczo.com/view/3/e/a/f/e...34_76170_6.jpg

RATING : THREE OUT OF FIVE ZIGGYS

twenty nine.
THE WONDER STUFF//Here Comes Everyone



sounds like.
Partying in a field.

it's here because.
The Wonder Stuff are the first band I ever fell in love with and the first band I ever really heard I guess. Tapes of them used to be stashed all over my aunts house like hidden treasures and I would uncover the history of my first real musical band my reading the line notes obsessively.

Though they faded out fast and ruined their reputation forevermore by doing the cancerous "Dizzy" with Vic Reeves I and about twelve other people still remember them as an amazingly fun, energetic, hippyish band from the west country.

The Hup! and Never Loved Elvis albums are more than worth looking into. Consider yourself told.

twenty eight.
CHICANE//No Ordinary Morning



sounds like.
Butterflies in your stomach.

it's here because.
No Ordinary Morning might be the most delicate, beautiful track to have come out of the nineties dance explosion and the mostly four to the floor groups that it produced.

It's something they would lay over a death scene in Skins. Emotional almost to the point of cheese but oh so very good. Listen to the warm pad sounds. You hear that? That's just superior sonic texture.

twenty seven.
THE BANGLES//Eternal Flame



sounds like.
Sounds like I could fucking CRY WITH JOY.

it's here because.
That's me trying to hit the high notes at 00:35. We were lonely in those days. Eternal Flame is genuinely one of the most stirring tracks ever though, and that's why it sits here just as the list is getting hot. Forget Atomic Kitten ... The Bangles were way better and way hotter. I'm not sure which wanky terms to dig up to describe my love for this one but here you go. It's great.

Originally Posted by Stu (Post 6137041) twenty seven. THE BANGLES//Eternal Flame Youtube video sounds like. Sounds like I could fucking CRY WITH JOY. it's here because. That's me trying to hit the high notes at 00:35. We were lonely in those days. Eternal Flame is genuinely one of the most stirring tracks ever though, and that's why it sits here just as the list is getting hot. Forget Atomic Kitten ... The Bangles were way better and way hotter. I'm not sure which wanky terms to dig up to describe my love for this one but here you go. It's great.

Originally Posted by Stu (Post 6136994) twenty nine. THE WONDER STUFF//Here Comes Everyone Youtube video sounds like. Partying in a field. it's here because. The Wonder Stuff are the first band I ever fell in love with and the first band I ever really heard I guess. Tapes of them used to be stashed all over my aunts house like hidden treasures and I would uncover the history of my first real musical band my reading the line notes obsessively. Though they faded out fast and ruined their reputation forevermore by doing the cancerous "Dizzy" with Vic Reeves I and about twelve other people still remember them as an amazingly fun, energetic, hippyish band from the west country. The Hup! and Never Loved Elvis albums are more than worth looking into. Consider yourself told.

twenty six.
MORRISSEY//Everyday Is Like Sunday



sounds like.
Fey, bashful and overbearing all at once. Typical Moz, then.

it's here because.
It's a shame Morrissey's awe inspiring ability to make weird, sweeping statements about pigs and stuff has detracted ever so slightly from his superb back catalog of albums like Viva Hate, Your Arsenal and return to form You Are The Quarry. Never at risk of approaching the majesty of The Smith's discography but a stellar body of work nontheless.

The most annoying thing is how bloody serious people take him. Read the article, write him off as a secluded, heartless has been and forget the tunes. He's only Morrissey for christ sake. He's an old coot. He means well when he says the genocide of babies is nothing compared to the guilty taste you get from KFC chicken or something.

Every Day Is Like Sunday stirs with it's plucky strings and quietly rousing lyrics. It pulls off the typical Moz/Smiths contradiction of having quite sweet music offset by desolate, dreary subject matter.