Daveportivo's Cultural Evaluation Facility

"Can't You See What You've Done To My Heart And My Soul, This Is A Wasteland Now" ouch Interpol managed to deliver another devastating emotive jab of top notch indie but this time something was different. In Slow Hands Interpol realized they could turn their often beautiful but remarkable rough around the edges sound into rousing festival sized anthems. Interpol would developed rapidly from here on in producing not only powerful albums but anthemic singles to match. Hear It Here

It's easy to forget that after bombast and brilliance of Helicopter and She's Hearing Voices that it was infact the tender and fragile So Here We Are that thrust Bloc Party towards superstardom. Built around a simple and effecting riff Kele laid down some gorgeous ethereal vocals to create a song that felt less like a single and more like a moment in time preserved perfectly. It's seems like a long time since this track hit the charts but Bloc Party have rarely surpass it. Hear It Here.

Looking back In My Place seems like a curious choice for the first single from the career defining A Rush Of Blood To The Head. Yet looking back now the tracks understated beauty and unparalleled control of melody shines through. Chris Martin vocally and lyrically is wrenching desperately it's a track that screams out with emotion, it's a tidal wave of pent feelings being released at once, yet the track is sublimely well controlled and conveyed. Shrewd songwriting of the highest order. Hear It Here

Topping Boys & Girls In America was an impossibility, and the Hold Steady sounded too damn good to change tack, so what was a band to do? Well Craig Finn return full of urgency, dispencing "Life's Most Valuable Lessons" left and right, meanwhile the band beefed up their sound creating tryanical walls of sound. Stay Positive was a track that grabbed you, it was a mix of a narratives and social commentary but every line spoke volumes and felt vital. This track also contained one of the most powerful musings on the music industry that I can remember; "There's Gonna Come A Time, When The True Scene Leaders Will Forget Where They Differ, And Get Big Picture, Because The Kids At The Shows Will Have Kids of Their Own, And The Singalong Songs Will Be Their Scripture". Hear It Here

After years of being the troubled boy in the corner Flex was the first sign that Dizzee would trade in his tragic social detailing and become the nations biggest feel good party starter. The was a wonderful light hearted to charm to Flex best displayed by it's opening salvo; "I Love It When I See A Pretty Girl Winding, I Can Even Watch A Butters Girl Winding" the rode to Dance Wiv Me started here. Hear It Here

Who'd of thought with this soulful little ditty with it's country stomp vibe would managed to set indie disco across the nation alight? It seemed improbable but six years Lily Allen would take the cooky country stomp and conquer the world all over again. Hotel Yorba brilliance lies not only in it's bizzare dance-ability, but in it's contradiction, it's all things to all people, it's a charming little throwaway, it's a torn emotion longing, it's escapism from drudgery, it's aspirational or it's a two minute nursery rhyme goof. The fact is this track works on every level and that's why it's brilliant. Hear It Here

Some tracks just hit you like a freight train, Dominos while beautiful simplistic has incredible power, I remember when I first heard it I did a double track, your absorbed by the music it pulls you it with it's warp sonic delights. While Dominos is not actually one of The Big Pink's best tracks, it makes an impact and a mark like no other, it feels like a drug it warps your mind and leaves you begging for more, luckily The Big Pink had much more to offer than just a few catchy singles. Hear It Here

The Eminem Show would be Eminem's last great album and it's hard to think of a more emotive or powerful track than the heartbreaking Sing For Moment. It was the perfect marriage of Eminem's most poetic and proactive lyrics and the divine sample of Aerosmith's Dream On. Steven Tyler provides the perfect chorus and Joe Perry's solo is a work of art. "They Say Music Can Alter Moods And Talk To You" with that one line Eminem said more than I ever could. Hear It Here

Some artists are so distinctive that the second you hear their voice you know it simple couldn't be anyone else. M.I.A was so unique, in 2005 she sounded almost too different to everything else going on, and when she played Glastonbury that year it was as if she was in glorious technicolour and everyone else was in monochrome. The real skill of her music and of Pull Up The People is how disarming her raps are, their carefree and almost child like, they sound free as a bird even when their carrying the weight of the world, and that is no mean feat. Hear It Here

Some tracks get chronically overplayed and Good Life suffered this fate in 2007 it was too good and too inescapable. Looking back now it seems like a remarkable charming aspirational feel good anthem, as time wore on Kanye's bragging would begin to grate massively, but on the Good Life he felt earnest heartfelt and reminded the world why we fell in love with him in the first place. A brilliant ground breaking video didn't hurt either. Hear It Here.

On second album Sam's Town the Killers discovered their balls, sorry for being so crude but it's true, even a sweet little ballad like Read My Mind was sonically Beefed up and felt positively epic. Rather than simply penning great songs to fill dance floors Brandon Flowers was beginning to great songs period, huge epics that carried on the US great history of broad brush strokes emotive song writing. Read My Mind was the type of songs that could effect you on a deeply personal level and yet united thousands across the world in song at the same time. Hear It Here

In 2001 Britney was beginning to seem like old hat, so out went sweet and innocent and in came sticky and sexy. It would take her almost five years to realize that being morose and sex obsessed suited her much better than "heart felt" pop balladeering. Pharrell wrote the perfect song, they conjured the perfect video and Britney stepped up to the plate with as much sas as she could muster and hit a home run with ...Slave 4 U. Hear It Here

How would we DJ were it not for Short Circuit it seems like every DJ at one time or another has used the epic hook from this track if only fleetingly. Yet despite the many remixes Short Circuit still works best as a stand alone art house piece, musically it hopes around so brilliantly starting as a dance floor smash before calming down into a sublimely measured post euphoria chillout piece. These Boys never dissapoint. Hear It here

"Hey, Don't Write Yourself Off Yet, It's Only In Your Head You Feel Left Out Or Looked Down On" arrrh how sweet, Jimmy Eat World would of course go onto to say that you should just be yourself, to be proud of who you are and just stick with it. Now had this track been released five years later they'd surely have been labelled "emo fags" but like for Jimmy Eat World they hook the world good, and they hooked us young on their infectious pop punk melodies. Proof that sunshine pop-punk doesn't have to be a parade of knob gags. Hear It Here

The was so much anticipation for the Arctic Monkeys that when Alex Turner fired out the immortal line "This Bird Said It's Amazing, Oh So All That's Left....Is The Proof That Loves Not Only Blind But Death". That was the moment when the world collectively wet their knickers, when we all realized that something very special indeed was going on with these four lads from Sheffield. Reading Festival and I Bet You... would follow but this is the moment when the hype reach fever pitch. Hear It Here

While Chris Martin will never be compared to the likes of Alex Turner as one of this generations great song writers, Martin's lyrics after all are about as subtle as brick to the face, there can be no argument that the man knows how to create a moment. He did exactly that when he effectively debuted Fix You to world at Glastonbury creating one of those unforgettable Glastonbury moments. Fix You was perhaps the ultimate tear jerker pitched to perfection, deeply emotional music made for the world's biggest and most open stages. Hear It Here

While Ian Brown's solo career for the most part has been largely forgettable and oft regrettable he did manage to stumble upon one last moment of genius that even the Stone Roses would have been proud to embrace. F.E.A.R while occasionally over simplistic, hits more often than it misses and with a powerful yet understated

orchestral arrangement it has a subtle power. Hear It Here

By 2008 the world had given up on Metallica as anything other than a live attraction, why they were timeless on stage, they were fast becoming the dancing dads at the wedding in the studio, but then out of nowhere with a little help from Rick Rubin they emerge revitalised and ready for battle. The Day That Never Comes was a sprawling epic with big epic sweeps and huge riffage and then in the second half it happens, the chains are undone and yes Kirk Hammett for the first time in seemingly eternity lets his guitar sing, or more preciesely scream bloody but beautiful murder, and you know what? It was worth the wait. Hear It Here

Give me a D, now give me and Arkness, yes once upon a time that was would actually get a huge reactions in arenas and stadiums across the land. The biggest surprise is that six years of turmoil and ridicule later and this track still sounds amazingly good. Yes perhaps Justin vocals aren't as "fun" as they once were but there's not doubting that this is a track that will thoroughly rock your socks, and it remains one of the greatest pieces of retrospective rock ever penned. Hear It Here

"He's A Friend And He's A Friend, And He's So Proud Of You, He's A Friend And I Knew Him Before You, He's A Friend And We're So Proud Of You, Your Famous Friend Well I Blew Him Before You" oh yes who hasn't enjoyed belting that ridiculous line out at one time or another. Simple put this is the best pure pop song Franz Ferdinand ever wrote (and there's alot of competition) what it lacks up for subtly it makes up for with spades of knowing tongue in cheek humour. Hear It Here

Could there have been a finer track to mosh to this decade? Well there probably was but no track could united so many is so much anarchy. Taken from the album of the same name System Of A Down were slowly going about proving that they were the new kings of the quiet-loud-quiet-loud template. This was the perfect live track it had it all, huge sing along, big melodies, huge hooks and one finally pummelling beatdown. Hear It Here

With perhaps with the exception of the Darkness no band has risen so high and fallen so far, so fast as Razorlight. America would be their commercial high watermark, Andy Burrows penned a track that was beyond anthemic, it may have been painfully simple but it was perfectly crafted for Johnny Borrell's voice and it remains their biggest hit and the point of no return for their collective career. Hear It Here

Blink-181 will never be regarded as guitar Gods, and rightly so, but in the year 2000 they created one of the most uplifting, addictive and memorable riffs of the decade for Man Overboard. The track also marked the high watermark for the vocal interplay between Tom and Mark, Mark supplied the witty punch lines "You're Out Of Line, And Really Sober" and Tom brought the grating hook that burrowed it's way into your cranium. Hear It Here

So in 2000 Nelly looked liked raps great hope but under the facade of his Country Gramma lied the signs that we were actually dealing with pops next sensation rather than raps saviour. E.I. was a typically low brow affair but it was remarkably catchy and who could forget a hook this brain dead "Undalay, Undalay, Momma E.I., Uh Oh". It all seems rather silly today but I can assure in the year 2000 this was actually cool. Hear It Here

Dr. Dre marked his long awaited comeback with this old school West Coast anthem, Dre was determined to show that old school could still be relevant with a top notch producer. The mamoth Still Dre would mark a surprise career renaissance, as Dre astutely points out he signed Eminem and rode that pony to the top of the charts, but this was proof that Dre could still do it all on his lonesome. Hear It Here

Franz Ferdinand's second album will always be a mystery, while it couldn't hope to match the quality of the first, it was still a remarkable follow up, and it really should have brought them more success. Walk Away was the albums greatest ballad, it just oozed cynical non-plussed cool and wit poured out from every orifice. A wonderful piece of music and a surprisingly rousing live anthem. Hear It Here

While Hardcore music had kept chugging along away from the mainstream, by 2007 it felt like the right time for a band to come along and kick the holy hell out of the pop punk that was dominating Kerrang & Scuzz. The Gallows were the crossover superstars the scene needed and they promptly became present day legends and it's not hard to see why on the back of monstrous singles like In The Belly Of A Shark, where apparently it's "So Fucking Cold and So Fucking Dark" just incase you were curious. Hear It Here

I've already made abundantly clear that I have a strong bias towards the pop music of the 1960s and when The Last Of The Shadow Puppets emerge in 2008 I was always destined to fall in love with their Scott Walker inspired sound. Standing Next To Me was the undoubted highlight, a sweet little tragically pitch pop song that's transformed into a grand sweeping epic by a rumbling acoustic guitar and one of the finest string arrangements of the 21st Century. Hear It Here

After the Strokes 2001 breakthrough retrospective rock was in and unfortunately we were soon to discover that few bands had the talent to pull of what the Strokes achieved. Jet were more of a pastiche than a full fledged band, original thought was absent from their work, yet they did manage to lay down this one truly earth shattering single. Hear It Here

The third album is always a trick one for an act with global ambitions, presuming the made it safely past the pitfall of the second album it's time for them to spread their wings, show their creative potential and yet still manage to conquer the globe with stadium sized single. While X & Y was cringe inducingly syrupy at times it was none the less a success, pushing Coldplay towards a more electronic and broader Brian Eno-esque sound, and of course it still managed to churn out stadium fillers like Speed Of Sound. All in all, a job well done. Hear It Here

If 2009 belongs to any artist it's Lady Gaga, for better or for worse no artist has made a bigger impact than this little lady. Her debut album The Fame was a triumph, it was the ultimate proof that immaculate style and first class posturing can compensate for somewhat dubious substance. However Gaga is no mere pop sensation, right from her explosive debut she never aimed to be the flavour of the month, she aimed for superstardom, she set her sights for Beyonce, for Timberlake but more importantly she had Madonna firmly in her cross-hairs. Gaga upon debut perfectly captured her age like a sonic screen shot, her music was shallow, aggressively sexual, care free and knowingly hilarious. When it comes to the pop world this decade has seen two great pop innovators who have changed the game, re-set the clock and in some cases reinvent the wheel; Lily Allen was the 21st Century pop star a real girl, brutally honesty and refreshing real, Lily Allen was this generations pop hero, Gaga on the other hand was over the top, she was unreal, she was a caricature she wanted to be this generation's Icon. Yet to be a true Icon you have to at some point deliver the substance to match the emaculate style; afterall when Ziggy Stardust descended from the heavens he brought with him one of the greatest albums of all time. This leads us ultimately to the question at hand; does Gaga the substance to back up her style? Will her ambition outstrip her talent? Will she be doomed to rot along with the other colourful pretenders to Madonna's throne?

If the Fame Monster is anything to go by Lady Gaga has absolutely nothing to worry about, infact, she's on her way to becoming an institution. The Fame Monster not only improves on the impressive if mediocre The Fame it blows that record out the water. Within the confines of this brief thirty minute semi-album Gaga leaps past Madonna and begins to look like the modern day Bowie. From the first minute of opening track Bad Romance you are instantly informed that you are no longer listening to a stylish poser indebted to her influences or relying on a producer, your in fact listening to a true artist, your listening to music that could only be written by Lady Gaga. From this opening salvo the album becomes Gaga, it's crazy, it's stupid and it's sexy as all hell. Bad Romance lays the brilliance of Gaga on the table for all to see, it's so psychopathically morose and yet brilliantly crafted at the same time, with her off key ranting and musical theatre pants Gaga music brings a rye smile to your face while the subversive beat and addictive hook becomes implanted in your head. Either by design or by accident The Fame Monster has a tremendous sense of humour, it's fantastically confusing, you don't know whether she really is this shallow and superficial, or if it's all one big joke at your expense or whether infact your supposed to be in on the gag. Of course before you could ever come to a conclusion you'll be so addicted to her tracks you'll forget why you cared in the first place.

Gaga switches personalities a will, starting out as the demented desperate predator stalking her man before going in for the kill, next she slips into a Spanish love song narrative and she's become the victim of love's obession, of course she's nonplussed about the whole affair. Alejandro is perhaps the album's most ridiculous track, Gaga's cadence is almost too unreal to be anything but parody and the track is a hilarious albeit grating listen at first, however it's sweet melodic hooks and clever arrangement are revealed on multiple listens and it soon becomes a favourite. Monster feels like Gaga's answer to Akon's Dangerous and feels like one of the few reactionary tracks on the album yet it still retains and creative and remarkable dense arrangement to back up a series of sugary hooks. The track is produced to perfection it truly feels like the US's answer to Xenomania. The most striking difference between The Fame and The Fame Monster comes in terms of the sheer song quality, before Gaga relied on posturing; limp basslines, key board break downs, it was paper thin. The Fame Monster strips away the cynicism creating beautifully dense arrangements, it's superbly written pop music of the highest order. Speechless clearly highlights this improvement with a timeless epic sweeping strings movement atop a chugging guitar line while Gaga belts out a classic ballad, it's so well pitched, it doesn't relie on any electro gimmickry or production tricks, this is a song that feels more like a Lennon & McCartney composition than a Timbaland electro fart. Telephone is also particularly telling; it shows that in between all the new found powerhouse song writing moments that Gaga can still be ice cool and as ridiculous as ever. Yet when compared to Beyonce's flaccid Videophone the elevation of Gaga is marked, behind the posturing and the one liners are glorious timeless pop hooks to compensate for the live for the day short sighted production.

The Fame Monster is a sensation, it's thirty minutes of divine pop, loaded with potential hits, irresistible hooks but most importantly brilliant music. The creativity on display is remarkable, while there may still be obvious nods to Madonna and other 80s pop, they are more subtle now, this unmistakable, unequivocally Gaga. The Fame Monster proves that Gaga is no trend, no gimmick, no false idol, this Lady is genuinely super talented. It's scary to think that this collection of tracks was thrown together basically to flog a few extra copies of her debut LP, God knows just how good her next full LP will be? Gaga has shown that she's an artist who can develop and evolve, that she has the potential to get better and better, and unlike Justin Timberlake, unlike Beyonce and yes unlike Lily Allen she has made an album that from the first track to last is wall to wall brilliance. There are still challenges ahead, Gaga sound is still very now, but The Fame Monster gives us the hints that she has the potential to create music that transcends her era. Gaga is no longer the next big thing, the flavour of the month, she's not a trend, a style, she is simply Gaga and she is a Twenty First Century Icon, who deserves to be mentioned not only alongside Madonna, but Bowie, Michael Jackson, Prince and if she keeps going at this rate there's no reason she can't start eyeing Lennon and McCartney. There is a long way to go of course, but the signs are good, and let us never forget Lennon & McCartney started with Please, Please Me not Abbey Road. So while she may never be able to take Lily Allen's crown as our every-girl pop heroine; make no mistake Lady Gaga is THE 21st Century Pop ICON, she's anything but an ordinary girl, she's something different, something new, something terrifying: she is The Fame Monster.

Tracks To Download: Speechless, Bad Romance & Monster

Like A Prayer - Madonna, Dirty Mind - Prince

2008 wouldn't be kind to Franz Ferdinand, they'd stayed away too long (or perhaps not long enough) and there third album while far from stellar never got it's just deserts. Lucid Dreams was the clear stand out, Alex and co reworked the one of single from a rather generic free minute pop song into a sprawling seven minute thematic epic. The track was oozed it drip it was dirt sexy intelligent dance music made by a rock band who kick started the indie disco revolution in the UK. At seven minutes it was a beast and would have been a risk, but a song of this quality deserved a re-release and a music video. Hear It Here

In 2005 it appeared that Trent Reznor was desperate to regain his mojo and he damn close, The Hand That Feeds felt like the more generic offspring of original breakthrough single Head Like A Hole. It laid it's electronic grooves and simple hook over a rather bland guitar line, it create a wonderful pulsating dance beat but fell short of greatest, it simple aped the past to shameless. Yet despite all the draw backs it easily remains Trent's best pop single of the last ten years. Hear It Here

We're not even half way through the countdown and already the dark lords at Xenomania are already making their presence felt with yet another mind blowingly brilliant single. The Show was just so irresistable, but behind it's divine hooks was a great deal of lyrical punch "Should Have Known, Should Have Cared, Should Have Hung Around The Kitchen In My Underwear Acting Like A Lady...Should Have Fluttered My Mascara Like A Butterfly, You Should Have Made Me". The track was a bold threat built ontop of a slick electro beat and my god how many hooks could one track have, they even included a nod to the sun drenched Ibiza hooks and I refuse to believe that anyone in the UK at one point in their life hasn't put on a falsetto and sung the "That Special Something" line. More pop genius, and trust me there's much more where that came from to look forward to. Hear It Here

After Yoshimi Batlles The Pink Robots it felt as though the Flaming Lips had earned the chance to have a good time and that's exactly what they did on At War With The Mystics. As a result they indulged their influences and interest creating some remarkable tracks that didn't hang together in a single LP. Two joyously fun tracks came out of this period the Prince tribute Free Radicals and the Sabbath sized The W.A.N.D. it still feels as though it's the Lips carefree answer to War Pigs, the track rides the on the back of a tsunami sized riff. Hear It Here

A Victim Of Conformity? A Causality of Your Society? Was this Muse, Trent Reznor....Pennywise? No in 2001 Sum 41 (don't laugh please) were the trying to be the arch anti-conformity pop punks, of course this whole notion seems absurd when your making one of the catchiest bounciest pop tracks of the decade. Pop punk never really got this big again, well not under that name at least, and Fat Lip remains a high point even with it's cringeworthy raps it had a playful free spirit that can only be admired. Hear It Here

There have been few more triumphant tracks this decade than Radio Nowhere when that first clanging riff boomed out of speakers world wide it felt like an awakening, the Boss was back, he was pissed off and he was about to give you his state of the union as he desperately cried "Is There Anybody Alive Out There". This track would complete Springsteen's comeback to stadium superstar, cultural icon and the unlikely spokesperson for a generation of American's sick and tired of the Bush Administration. This was Springsteen's desperate and pounding call to arms. Hear it Here

There hardly seems much to say about this track or about Electric Six, it truly is a case of if you've heard this track you know why it's here. The only note I need to make is that while it was a comedy track it equally works as a conventional rock track, boy do I regret putting the Lonely Island so low down :( Hear It Here

The Kaiser Chiefs burst onto the scene in 2005 with a serious of singles too catchy anthemic to be resisted. The Kaiser's made tracks to get huge festival fields singing in unison. Yet more than just being catchy pop the Kaiser's first album had some neat lyrical flourishes and a strong sense of humour, Everday I Love You Less And Less title alone was a triumph, let alone Ricky's attempt at justifying breaking up from his girl friend (his parent's love is enough for him, who needs a girl friend). Hear It Here

Prior to release I rather unfairly gave this track a lukewarm review, I stressed it's structural exellence, it's sublime lyrical content but criticised it for not being the next Umbrella but in hindsight those remarks seemed shallow. Russian Roulette remains a remarkable piece, Rihanna's vocals are divinely pitched building to a power house chorus, this track is more than just a single, it marks Rihanna's transition from a pop star to a full fledge diva. So this is my official apology for criminally underrating one of this decades finest tracks. Hear It Here

The Killer's b-side collection Sawdust served to highlight the Killer's weakness rather than showing off their song writing prowess. Tranquilize was the one exception, how it failed to make the cut for Sam's Town is beyond me. The track is brilliant, Lou Reed adds some stature to the track allowing Tranquilize to feel like a great American epic. There'd been alot of talk of the Killer's being influenced by Springsteen but this was the track that carried the great wide screen sense of American song writing. It's a string that sadly seems to have been lost from The Killer's bow. Hear It Here

While Coldplay have never shirked from the ambition to be as big as U2 they've desperately tried to be something more and do what U2 could never do; creatively evolve. Viva La Vida cannot be classed as a success but it wasn't a failure either, Coldplay stretched their creative wings, played around with varied instrumentation and song structure but still managed to retain their irresistible hooks a feat U2 never managed. Violet Hill was the first single, it felt familiar and yet different, it was both thrilling and cosy, it was the type of statement we want are modern Stadium MOR specialists to make. Hear It Here

In 2004 the Scissor Sisters created the definitive camp anthem. Filthy Gorgeous was a mission statement, and with this track they painted the pop charts rainbow coloured with a bass line of Noel's House Party proportions. Jake Sears sang the entire track in a ludicrously high Prince like falsetto this was the ultimate nasty sticky sweat club jam, there was nothing subtly about it, they were throwing their sexuality in your faces and you just had to react, and it seemed the vast majority decided to put on their dancing shoes. Hear It Here

We talked earlier about the great history of American storytellers and the 21st Century saw a great popular revival of this long and storied tradition with the Gaslight Anthem and The Hold Steady. The Swish burst onto the seen with it's gritty rock and roll riffage and Craig Finn's urban poetry. Craig Finn would end this decade as one of America's great storytellers and he painted images of dark streets laid with drunkards, drug addicts and damn good times, while in the back ground The Hold Steady turned themselves in the worlds greatest bar room band. It was a tremendous song writing journey and The Swish was the first sign of their genius. Hear It Here

When it comes to my favourite protest track of the decade the can only be one. None was more direct, more powerful and bang on than Jarvis Cocker's Cunts Are Still Running The World. Originally debuted at Reading festival on the big screens in between acts this track was beyond hilarious. Yet behind the huge sloganeering laid a surprisingly accurate, witty and well written rant, this wasn't a whiny college student this was an intellectual statement wrapped in a glorious blunt sentiment. The track was loaded with unforgettable lines but my favourite line will always be the opening gambit: "Well Did You Hear, There's A Naturally Order? Those Most Deserving Will End Up With The Most, That The Cream Cannot Help But Rise Up To The Top. Well I say "Shit Floats"". Hear It Here

T.I's ambition always radically outstripped his talent, don't get me wrong T.I is a fine rapper and one of the better stars to emerge in this decade but he's not one of the elite, no matter how hard he tries to position himself as such. Luckily one man whose sky high ambition has never outstripped his bottomless pools of talent is Mr. Timberlake, and Justin promptly carries this track on his back transforming it into a powerful epic, full of emotional hooks and sweeping arrangements. T.I. just about manages to keep pace as Justin Timberlake steals the show. Hear It Here

So even though Kate wasn't too thrilled at being constantly reminded of the fact but in 2007 we saw a sleugh of artist break through the shattered remainder of the door kicked open by Lily Allen. We had a new generation of deeply emotion highly personal singer songwriters and Kate was one of the first true success she followed up smash hit Foundations with the bold cold light of day honesty of Mouthwash. This tracks honesty struck a chord with many and it cemented Kate Nash as more than a one hit wonder. The tracks lyrically highlight came at the end of the first verse with the excellent line "And, This Is My Brain, It's Torturous Analytical Thoughts, Make Me Go Insane", I've certainly been there. Hear It Here

Ah Jay Z's simultaneous love sound to all the girls of the world and his love rat anthem. Of course it was largely an excuse to roll through as many ridiculous scenarios and punch lines as humanly possible. Ultimately this track was just alot of fun, built on a slow jam beat and super serious vocal whining before over the top they lay some sleezy sing along vocals. This track also hold the record for the most stereotypes in single track, just sit back and enjoy if you can get passed the comedy sexism. Hear It Here

Some tracks grab you within the first five seconds and that's certainly the case with Radiohead's tremendous Go To Sleep. At times it feels like the forgotten track in Radiohead's back catalogue but the minute that riff kicks in all the memories come flooding back just before Thom Yorke maniacally croons "Something For The Rag And Bone Man, Over My Dead Body". This was Radiohead at their most terrifying, they've always been bleak and emotionally wrought but this track was dark, ominous and it felt like it encroached upon with it's bleakness. It remains one of Radiohead's most bold and brilliant singles even if it was unfortunately sandwiched between some big hitters. Hear It Here

So on occasion a remix comes around that's so superb it surpasses the original, and while I'm not quite bold enough to say that of Shameless grindie remix of When The Sun Goes Down he certainly created something different. He made this track authentic, Shameless sheer urgency and his dark and visceral perfectly suited the track as he fired his vocals at a super sonic pace. He brought the violence and anger of the streets to the tragic nightmare that Alex Turner had created. Shameless transformed this track into something real and terrifyingly brilliant. Hear It Here