Game of Drones - My Favourite Tracks of 2011 part 1

Tweet Ah lookit, ye all came. So nice to see so many familiar faces; or it will be, as soon as our eyes adjust to the gloom. The smell? Oh that's only a common chemical reaction that happens when quicklime reacts with Justin Vernon's and Fleet Foxes' corpses.

Now, are we all sitting tight? I hope the cable-ties aren't too restrictive; I just can't have you all skipping off to Nialler 9's or Karl's sites. You see, what I share with you, my six or seven readers, is an exclusive relationship, and though I am a generous lover, I can get jealous. If that happens because ooh let's just say you mess around on other blogs, well that's when fingers start to disappear, and Christmas crackers are best pulled with a full set of fingers, amirite?

Now that we're all on the same page, let's begin. Here is the first part of a list of ten of my favourite songs from 2011. As usual, my techno tastes will be more evident throughout this list and my proclivity towards the experimental will show in the album list later in the week.

#10 Joe Goddard ft. Valentina - Gabriel


"This moomin this moomin this moomin oh woah stop"

For my money Joe Goddard's Gabriel single tops his work with Hot Chip (which can sometimes seem a bit sterile). It's a classically English sounding dance pop banger with a soulful vocal hook big enough to harpoon Moby Dick. I'm not sure how well it did in the charts (if they even count any more), but during the perfect summer this sort of shit would always be number one.

#9 Unknown Mortal Orchestra - Ffunny Ffrends

Have you any ffunny ffrends? I have three. Ffido the ffunny dog who always eats my mushrooms, Ffergus the ffuny ffrog who I sometimes lick ffor ffreaky ffrights, and Ffred the ffunny ffsychiatric nurse who looks after me. We all enjoy listening to this sick jam when watching cosmic cartoons on the hospital ceiling.

MP3: Unknown Mortal Orchestra-Ffunny Ffriends

#8 Nicolas Jaar - Space is Only Noise if You Can See

Nicolas Jaar's song might thumb its nose at the accepted model of physics, but strange goings on at CERN may yet shed light on the scientifically preposterous title and his exortation to 'wind your clock, baby wind your clock' (a lyric that makes a lot of practical sense on the last Sunday of March). In the meantime lets just appreciate the track for being one of the truly forward-looking pieces of music of 2011, its rippling cosmic soul pulsing towards a sophisticated new horizon in dance.

#7 The Last Days of 1984 - River's Edge

The Irish duo's first single is a stunner, a stirring swirl of Balearic euphoria with a strong vein of sadness running through it in the manner of so much great dance pop from the Pet Shop boys through New Order to all those great musicians on Sincerely Yours. Anyone who has danced in a space full of young people with the sun coming up will know that such moments are transient, and one of life's bittersweet truths is that as we age we spend exponentially more time looking back longingly on those moments than we spend experiencing them. This track communicates such truths.

#6 Lana Del Rey - Video Games

"Ooooh she's got fake lips" moaned half the internet. "Her Dad's in the music industry" bawled others. But why would you give a fuck? Seriously. If she was assembled from vulcanised rubber in an underground lab in North Korea would it still stop Video Games from shitting all over something like Fleet Foxes' crappy sophomore album from a height? No. No it would not.

Before I go, may I ask a little question; what would ye think of an asleep on the compost heap podcast? It wouldn't be anything groundbreaking, just me sharing some music and talking about about why it fascinates me. That would be to start with; I'm sure it would evolve if I maintained it. Let me know what ye think, yeah?

More tracks of the year will follow in a day or two.