foals

[15] Foals, ‘This Orient’

Foals

Now for some light relief.

Oh, no, it’s Foals. All city lights and satellites, ‘This Orient’ is couched in romantic urban imagery and scuttles along busily, tight but dreamy, soaring through neon expanses. It’s a bit of a pop moment, with a lovely mix of a cappella bops and faked marimba – and later some crystal synth chimes to create an aural treat around an empty shell – and stands out on Total Life Forever for all the wrong reasons. All the wrong reasons that make it a better single than the more powerful ‘Spanish Sahara’. It works in my head, anyway.

Obviously, for a serious bunch of young men, their name is hilarious. Once Junior’s recovered from that and the hectic bout of dancing she chucks herself into for the first few bars, she comes to the only possible conclusion: “It’s some people dressing up.”

2008 Top 20 Singles?

Halfway through the year, always looking for delaying tactics and ways to ramp up the tension for the year-end countdown, here’s a minor indicator – the Top 20 Most Played 2008 Singles on my iPod thingy.

[1] Martha Wainwright, ‘Bleeding All Over You’
[2] The Ting Tings, ‘Great DJ’
[3] Laura Marling, ‘Ghosts’
[4] Alphabeat, ‘Fascination’
[5] Fleet Foxes, ‘White Winter Hymnal’
[6] Coldplay, ‘Violet Hill’
[7] The Ting Tings, ‘That’s Not My Name’
[8] Death Cab For Cutie, ‘I Will Possess Your Heart’
[9] MGMT, ‘Time To Pretend’
[10] Lykke Li, ‘I’m Good, I’m Gone’
[11] Coldplay, ‘Viva La Vida’
[12] Santogold, ‘L.E.S. Artistes’
[13] Portishead, ‘Machine Gun’
[14] Vampire Weekend, ‘Oxford Comma’
[15] Laura Marling, ‘Cross Your Fingers’/’Crawled Out Of The Sea’
[16] Hercules And Love Affair, ‘Blind’
[17] The Shortwave Set, ‘No Social’
[18] Goldfrapp, ‘A&E’
[19] H ‘two’ O featuring Platnum, ‘What’s It Gonna Be’
[20] Foals, ‘Red Socks Pugie’

Admit it. You’re astonished.