SOMEBODY is here                   Recoil – Allelujah

11. Morrissey – It’s Not Your Birthday Anymore

His recent albums are pretty far from the fresh outta The Smiths stuff. I’m talking about the music, because the lyrics have always been briliant – the guy just can’t be topped when it comes to editing ideas into the most simple and yet poetic words. It’s Not Your Birthday Anymore it’s one of the most powerful songs he wrote in years, talking about how politeness and hypocrisy have nothing to do with one’s expression of love: “All the gifts that they gave can’t compare in any way to the love I am now giving to you right here right now on the floor”. LISTEN

10. U2 – Moment of Surrender

Probably the only point where my little top here coincides with that of major music magazines, U2′s Moment of Surrender is by far the highlight of their latest album, No Line on the Horizon. Clocking in at almost seven minutes and a half, this ode to giving up, with plenty of gospel vibes, will make you crave to surrender in any possible way, just so that the song will fit your situation. Bono is not just singing on this, his playing a character. Top form. LISTEN

9. Depeche Mode – Jezebel

Martin Gore always keeps for his own (vocal) self the weirdest tracks on Depeche Mode albums, but then again, in Depeche world, ‘weird’ means unlike anything. It’s quite a cinematic piece of music, a portrait of a lady judged for her unconventional perspective of love: “Open their eyes to the beauty, Open their hearts to the fun, Open their minds to the idea that you don’t own someone”. If it wasn’t for the lyrics or Gore’s innocent voice, you might mistake Jezebel for a Sade piece, but that’s not a bad thing. Is it? LISTEN

8. Editors – The Big Exit

And speaking of Depeche Mode, this track by Editors sounds as if they were really inspired this one time, needed their guitars, but all they were given was an old synthesizer of Martin Gore’s. It might sound demeaning, but, believe me, it’s a compliment, because The Big Exit confirms the alternative band’s choice of a more electro sound as an inspired one. On an echoing big bass, Tom Smith sings about some kind of relationship, but he sounds more threatening than romantic — most likely, that’s the intention. LISTEN

7. The Prodigy – Stand Up

It’s a Prodigy tradition to do on each album stuff they haven’t done before. With Invaders Must Die‘s closer, Stand Up, Liam Howlett achieved what is probably The Prodigy’s only uplifting (‘non-menacing’) sounding beat. This is, in part, due to the Manfred Mann Chapter Three sample from One Way Glass. Of course, Howlett couldn’t have a full-on shinny happy tune in the band’s history, so he ‘patched’ the beat with plenty of dirty synths and insanely loud bass, so that your speakers would still fear it, just like the rest of The Prodigy’s discography. LISTEN

6. Manic Street Preachers – Marlon J.D.

It’s been more than half of year since this came out and I still can’t really explain what draws me so  mercilessly to Marlon J.D., why this punkish track with unintelligible riffs and drum machines is as moving as… Samuel Barber’s Adagio for Strings, for example. The Manics are known for their memorable riffs, but with this one, the guitars sound as if they are voices which try everything that would sound good on the given rhythm. The vocals themselves make you believe that reality is a musical where the deepest pain can be expressed, in tune with the bassline. LISTEN

5. The Killers – A White Demon Love Song

You may or may not be a fan of the movie, but New Moon is one interesting compilation for your indie tastes of late 2000′s. The Killers wrote A White Demon Love Song for the movie, so you woun’t find it on any of their albums (so far). It sounds as if they had a lot of fun with this one, because, despite being about a demon, it has that country-growing-up-near-Mexico thing that Brandon Flowers and co. seem to sport as often as possible. Yet, it’s not a parody, but an ethereal ballad, which uses all means to conjure an unique love anthem. LISTEN 

4. Placebo – Speak in Tongues

Brian Molko stated on several occasions that this is his main pick from Battle for the Sun and, for what it’s worth, his opinion could be considered valid. The song has a slightly irregular structure, meaning that from a verse-chorus-verse-chorus thing it turns into this building epic. Lyrically, we hear the same strange metamorphosis from abstract lines like ”Kitty came home without a name” to the eco-slogan-sounding “We can build a new tomorrow today”. Some extra points for the choral part in the middle and the use of the word ‘blasé’… LISTEN

3. Tori Amos – Fire to Your Plain

Though not a perfect album, Abnormally Attracted to Sin adds some valuables to Tori Amos’ 20 years career, like this slick bluesy little thing about a love triangle (?): “I am low, Watching you,Watching her play this game”. We encounter the kind of subtly orchestrated chorus we heard on Girl, for example, from Tori’s first album, though in a different tone. This is also one of those special cases where Her vocals are just as sarcastic as the lyrics. It’s not a single, but it has been graced with a cool video. LISTEN & WATCH

2. Alice in Chains – Black Gives Way to Blue

Grunge idols made a significant return this year, with a new singer replacing the demised Layne Staley and, of course, they couldn’t make an album without carving their love for the ex-bandmate in the shape of a three minute ballad, that will have you contemplating whoever is missing from your life. With Elton John on the piano, this deploring of life resignation (“I Dont wanna feel no more, It’s easier to keep falling”) might be the best rock tearjerker of the year. It will slow you down and force a moment of reevaluation. LISTEN

1. Little Boots – No Brakes

It’s all about looking towards the future and this year’s crop of new artists is one for the books. As far as Little Boots is concerned, 2009 was practically just her debut, so 2010 can’t come fast enough. In the same manner of 80′s retro pop, but with a hot twist, which made New in Town a hit, No Brakes is one perfect pop song, with plenty of feel, as well as well-crafted metaphorical lyrics. Synth bass and bells, catchy hooks, this is the kind of music suited for everyone and everywhere (ok, that’s a bit too much, but you get the idea). LISTEN    

Hole to Feed

Fragile Tension

Sounds of the Universe.

There is also a video to help promote, but only Hole to Feed, unfortunately. In more than one way, Fragile Tension would have deserved the extra attention. On the other hand, the strange video for the aforementioned song doesn’t really do it justice,  Eric Wareheim’s vision, while bound to spark some reaction, being a bit too… 90′s in its attention craving direction. The band members are not in the video, but we all got used to that by now.

This is the second single in the history of Depeche Mode to be written by singer Dave Gahan and collaborators, Christian Eigner and Andrew Phillpott and one of the three songs authored by the trio to feature on Sounds of the Universe. Depeche Mode are currently continuing their seemingly ill-fated  Tour of the Universe, marked by a number of cancellations caused by Gahan’s health problems: doctor’s orders for vocal rest, a leg injury and gastroenteritis in the tour’s debut days. It seems that despite his… devotion, the universe is not on his side…

UPDATE: Depeche Mode have indeed released a video for the other single involved, Fragile Tension, on November 20.

HOLE TO FEED video                     FRAGILE TENSION video

WATCH THE VIDEO FOR DEPECHE MODE’S Peace

“Victory, not Vengeance” is the motto behind VNV Nation’s name, a British futurepop band that has been around for quite some time, now. Still, they are mainly a niche “product”, being highly respected in the world of electronica. Their 2007 album, Judgement, was more of an incursion in pop, than future. The results might have been a slight disappointment for their hardcore fans, but sure enough won them a bunch of new ones. And it’s no wonder, with a song like Illusion. There isn’t a lot in it that would make you guess VNV Nation as a trancey-electro band. It is, basically, a piano-driven ballad, that focuses lyrically on words of solace. It brings peace, but it also reminds of a former pain. The few piano keys composing the chorus hook will remain in your mind longer than many voices. Illusion reaches that special place that Depeche Mode seems to miss (if they are indeed trying to reach it), that balance between dark and moody and luminous sadness. As a bonus, you can also feast your ears on the instrumental Prelude, that opens Judgement. That, too, will find a cozy place in your memory and will not leave anytime soon.

LISTEN TO Illusion HERE

At the time of its release, Playing the Angel (2005) was a bit of a comeback for Depeche Mode, considering that it had been four years since Exciter. Nonetheless the album confirmed once and for all their status as a lasting band and as a legend-to-be. Precious, the first single had a lot to do with this, but the singles that followed were rather odd choices.

The real stand-out track of the album was The Darkest Star, which, as the title states, is an unique combination of light and darkness. It is, for sure, the most hypnotic song ever written by Martin Gore. It has everything that Depeche Mode “copyrighted” in music: uncomfortable perverse vocals by Dave Gahan, weird electro-effects filling every space, ambiguous lyrics about needing (or using ?) someone. Maybe the timing, almost seven minutes, severed all chances for The Darkest Star to be released as a single, but it remains a treasure within a treasure.