22 of Wallace Wylie’s favourite songs of 2012 (most of which are actually from 2012) so far
Twin Shadow – Five Seconds
What’s worse, sounding like the 80s, or sounding like 90s indie, which was trying to emulate 80s alternative while incorporating elements of 60s rock? The answer is: I love Twin Shadow.
Nite Jewel – One Second Of Love
I’m still not completely sold on the Nite Jewel album, but ‘One Second Of Love’ sounds perfect.
Baby Huey & The Babysitters – Hard Times
James Ramey, aka Baby Huey, died in 1970 aged 26. He left behind an uncompleted album produced by Curtis Mayfield. This track, also written by Mayfield, has been playing repeatedly on my stereo for weeks and weeks. I work in a used book/CD/record store and this album caught my eye earlier this year after it came in used. I’d never heard of Baby Huey, but something about the cover made me take a listen. It’s soul music that takes some punch from rock. George Clinton said Funkadelic sounded too white for black radio and too black for white radio. We have something similar going on here. Baby Huey seems to have fallen through the cracks of time, but when you’re on the floor you can’t help peering through those cracks. Hard times indeed.
Santigold – Disparate Youth
Santigold takes too long between albums. Songs this good need to happen more regularly.
Hot Chip – How Do You Do?
I read that when Hot Chip singer Alexis Taylor played their new album for his dad, the old man’s response was “There’s no singles”. Wise man. There really aren’t any standout songs that scream SINGLE, but there’s still a remarkably consistent set of songs. In other words, In Our Heads could well be Hot Chip’s Technique.
Mulatu Astatqé – Yèkèrmo Sèw
If I remember rightly, Collapse Board contributor Tamsin Chapman had randomly recommended The Very Best Of Ethiopiques on her Facebook page one day and then, as if by magic, a couple of days later the CD appeared in my store. My interest piqued, I gave it a listen. This song stood out immediately. As if the hypnotic refrain and locked-in groove weren’t enough, several minutes into the song a fuzzed-out guitar drops in and suddenly you wonder why anyone would listen to any other kind of music. Spellbinding.
(continues overleaf)
