Skip to main content

The Best of the Brits

Coldplay just released a new song, "Paradise", from their forthcoming album, Mylo Xyloto, and it's actually really good.  Leagues better than Every Teardrop is a Waterfall.  Heck, it's better than anything off of Viva la Vida except for "Viva la Vida".  Anyways, that got me thinking about all the great pop music that the Brits have come up with over the past couple years that never made it across the pond.  So, here's a list of a few of the best ones:

The Wanted - All Time Low (Genre: Pop): Boy bands and girl groups might've died in the U.S., but they're still going strong in the UK with acts like Girls Aloud, The Saturdays, JLS, and, god have mercy, Jedward.  (Seriously, if you think American music is bad, just look up Jedward.  They might be cute little kids but I want to strangle both of them at least three times over and punt them to Pluto.)  Anyways, the best song any of them has managed to put out in the past few years is The Wanted's All Time Low.  The best part is the first minute or so, with vocals backed by nothing but a tense string section.

Ed Sheeran - The A Team (Genre: Pop/Rock): An absolutely heartbreaking and brilliant song about being homeless.  Incredibly simple, with just vocals, acoustic guitar, and a bit of strings in the background.  Takes a few listens to sink in, but now I can't get enough of it.  Also, he's fucking awesome live, and he's a redhead if you're into that....

Diana Vickers - Jumping into Rivers (Genre: Pop): Vickers was a finalist on the British X-Factor with a very unique voice.  This song in particular was done with the guy who produced Britney Spears' Everytime, and you can definitely hear the similarities.  Both songs use the same muted, 80's infuenced sound to great effect.  However, unlike the stately and haunting Everytime, this record has a great bounciness and general optimism to it.

Tinie Tempah - Pass Out (Genre: Hip Hop): You might've heard of Tinie Tempah already.  He's had a minor hit with Written in the Stars in the U.S.  That song, however, is rather unremarkable.  Just a bad B.o.B ripoff.  To really understand what's great about the guy, you should listen to this song, which broke him in the UK.  It has a great drum'n'bass influenced beat that's flat out one of the best beats of the past year.  Tinie Tempah's rapping doesn't quite match up, but his flow is rather nimble, and he does come up with a great chorus.

Hurts - Stay (Genre: Pop): Stately, 80's influenced electro pop.  Sounds like Savage Garden trying to remake Tainted Love.  No wonder they're huge in Germany.  This song, in particular, is just great.  It's the best chorus they've ever managed, and it's just so damn fucking epic.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Greatest Song of All Time

The music business has its fair share of complexities, as you would expect from any business with such a long history, and that is, at its core, built upon international law (i.e. copyright). That complexity is almost always hidden from the listening public. However, one piece that is curiously exposed every year when the Grammys come around is the separation between what is a "record" and what is a "song". The second and third most prestigious awards at the Grammys are, respectively, "Song of the Year," and "Record of the Year." What's the difference? Most people, including most musicians, wouldn't be able to tell you. I couldn't either until I took a music industry course in college where someone finally explained it to me: A "song" is melody and lyrics. The best way I have to think if it is, if hear someone play a faithful-to-the-original, acoustic cover, the "song" is what would be the same between the orig...
Post a Comment
Read more

Best of The X-Factor UK

This coming Wednesday, Simon Cowell's replacement for American Idol, The X Factor, will debut here in the states. So, here's my favorite moments from the UK X-Factor, in the hopes that the US version will have moments just as good. Cher Lloyd - Turn My Swag On : A cheeky British teenager (16 at the time) covers the Keri Hilson cover of a Soulja Boy song.  On paper, it should've been a complete joke, but, somehow, Cher made it work.  She totally had the attitude, the look, and the voice to pull it off, and it didn't hurt that the song was actually awesome. Hands down the best and the most unique audition I've ever seen on any of these reality singing shows.   Jamie Archer - Sex on Fire : The song was a huge hit in the UK and an even bigger hit in Australia.  How it never became a hit in the US is beyond me.  Anyways, Jamie Archer has a perfect voice for the song and he just fucking sells it.  I can't help but smile watching this, and, judging by the vide...
Post a Comment
Read more

Best Musical Snippets of 2013

It's always great when you get a song that's consistently great from beginning to end, but sometimes it doesn't work out that way.  Sometimes you get songs where a certain section clearly stands out from the rest. Here's a few from this year: The Chorus of Kanye West's Bound 2 : The soul sample that occupies the rest of the song is soul only in name.  It approximates College Dropout-era Kanye with none of the warmth and, well, soul that made those tracks great.  The chorus is the exact opposite.  It uses the electronic music technique of putting a soulful male voice over a bass-heavy beat to create something emotive and genuinely soulful. The 3rd Minute of Youth Lagoon's Mute : Most of the song is nothing but warm, hazy fuzz, but, for about a minute, Trevor Powers cuts through that fuzz with a soaring, uplifting melody that Bono would be jealous of. The Pre-Chorus of Vampire Weekend's Unbelievers : One of two things this year that absolutely blew me away...
Post a Comment
Read more