Before I get started on naming my favourite 30 songs from 2015, please can we just dwell on the fact that narrowing down a small number of songs from the 350 that I have posted over the last year was nigh on IMPOSSIBLE. I've done my best and I'm not sure I'm entirely happy with the list, but it's fairly great and it's probably the best that it's gonna get. Without further ado, here are numbers 30 to 21.
30. Klyne - Paralyzed
All the way back in January I posted Nick Klein's 'Paralyzed'. A mildly confusing name for a duo from the Netherlands but no more confusing than Majid Jordan, I guess, and hey, the song was great! Five months later, Klyne's 'Paralyzed' appeared all over my Twitter timeline and upon seeing it had been around since January I couldn't work out why I hadn't posted it before... only I had. This is the only song this year that almost featured on What If I Had A Music Blog twice, even if it was down to my brain being a sieveand my inability to put two and two together.
29. Jarrod Alonge - Hey Jarrod, What's That Song Again
Let me be the first to say that Jarrod Alonge does not by any stretch of anything receive enough praise for how clever he truly is. Alonge "rose to fame" on YouTube with his unbelievably relatable rock vocalist parodies. He then crowdfunded his debut rock/parody album, 'Beating A Dead Horse' which covers numerous laughable genres but it's the metalcore medley 'Hey Jarrod, What's That Song Again' that is by far the standout on the record. Essentially he's lifted lines from some of current metalcore's most famous songs by the likes of Bring Me The Horizon, A Day To Remember and Of Mice & Men, and parodied the lyrics in the most ingenious way.
28. Lawrence Taylor - Bang Bang
I'd actually taken 'Bang Bang' out of my top 30 but I saw it on another blog's best songs list and I couldn't deny it its rightful position any longer. I've reached a point in my life where one man and his guitar has become an extremely tired format and it very rarely grabs me anymore. Lawrence Taylor and his electric guitar completely blow that out of the water and 'Bang Bang' is a stunning example. Every time I hear it, it builds so seamlessly that I don't notice it's suddenly a full band production until the very end and I'm just like "woah when did this happen?!". Taylor's phenomenal vocals are probably worth mentioning too.
27. Transviolet - Girls Your Age
This song is my best performing post on Tumblr to date and that's the absolute coolest thing. I started this blog because even if I introduced one person to their new favourite band, that's enough for me. But to have 150+ people who've never heard of this female led four-piece engage with something I've put out about them is nuts. Transviolet aren't typically the sort of band that I'd be into, the Lana Del Rey-esque thing isn't really for me, but the lyrics in 'Girls Your Age' are really what resonated with me. That's crazy too, that a band I'd never heard before were able to have an impact like this on me with the first track I heard. More about them in my Ones To Watch post, I reckon.
26. The Age of LUNA - Six Feet Deep
The Age of LUNA are exciting, there's no doubt about that, and they're even more exciting when you think about the fact that their youngest member is only 16 years old. Hearing this track for the first time was mindblowing in a sense that four musicians so young sound as though they could make a real impact on hip hop in the UK. I also bought an actual TAOL mixtape this year. An actual cassette tape mixtape. The love this quartet have for 90s hip hop is not only very evident in what they do, but also pretty inspiring.
25. Tyler, The Creator - Fucking Young
I've never really been a fan of Tyler, The Creator (apart from 'She' although really it was Frank Ocean that hooked me into that) but when he surprise released 'Fucking Young' and then his latest album 'Cherry Bomb' a couple of weeks later, I was pretty stoked. Tyler doing more "pop" sounding songs really works and although it's obviously not what he's about at his core, I would love to hear more of it. I also thoroughly enjoy his storytelling on tracks like this that are far more easy to digest than his usual material. Not to forget, Charlie Wilson's vocals are a great addition to 'Fucking Young' too.
24. Sofi de la Torre - Colorblind Cruisin'
'Colorblind Cruisin' is the most recent track featured on What If I Had A Music Blog to make it on to my Top Tracks list and I have absolutely zero regrets about it. Something about Sofi de la Torre's recent EP 'Mess' makes me feel as though the 25 year old Spaniard is more than just #popdoneright; she has the potential to make music that's #popdoneperfectly. Iabsolutely love the super fast chorus in this track. It stands out to me as being really cool and edgy yet still commercial at the same time and it's so fun! Such a major dance-around-the-kitchen song.
23. Tove Styrke - Ego
Learning how to pronounce Tove Styrke was one of the more eye-opening things I've experienced this year, for absolutely no reason whatsoever other than to sound even more snobby out loud than I do already. 'Ego' struck a chord with me at the time of its release which I think is why I fell in love with it so much. My love for this track also spurred me to invest much more time than I normally would in an album I didn't like initially. The only thing left to do now is to see Tove Styrke headline her own show but having recently cancelled her February UK tour, who knows when that will be.
22. XYLØ - Afterlife
At a similar time as when Transviolet's debut track fell into my life, so did XYLØ's 'Afterlife'. Again, it was a bit of a strange one as I hadn't liked any of the LA based duo's previous tracks, but 'Afterlife' felt special. This song is dark and eerie, and I perceive the lyrics to be about not being good enough in this world but the hope of being worthy in the next. I really hope that I like more of XYLØ's music next year, because they're definitely an outfit I want to enjoy, and unfortunately it's just my pernickety taste getting in the way.
21. Jerry Williams - Boy Oh Boy
This year, I fell in love with Jerry Williams. I first heard her and this track when her fellow Portsmouth resident Breaking More Waves posted her SBTV acoustic performance of it, which totally blew me away. After seeing Williams' live numerous times over the summer, she finally released a studio version of 'Boy Oh Boy' on her Cold Beer EP at the end of August. I'm not sure exactly what it is about 'Boy Oh Boy' that I love so much but I think it's something to do with... you know, I really can't work it out... it's just perfect, isn't it?
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